The Encouragement Declamation
by Chiany
Summary: She had always been curious on what was happening between Sheldon and Amy when none of the others were around. Little did she know, she was soon to find out.
1. Chapter 1

**Show Disclaimer: I don't own The Big Bang Theory, or any of it's characters.**

**Author's note: This is my first time writing and publishing an actual story, Fan Fiction or otherwise.**  
**The story starts somewhere during episode 12 of Season 7: The Hesitation Ramifacation.**

* * *

"Holy Crap on a Cracker" she blurted out loudly, before quickly exiting apartment 4a.

What…what did she just see? She could not believe it, which almost made her go back in to witness it again. But she couldn't, not only because of her own shock, but also because she realized this was a private matter.

"It…it simply can't be" she stuttered to herself, standing in the hallway between their apartments, trying to catch her breath again.

He has said to both her and Leonard that he is working on it earlier this year, but she never gave it much thought afterwards. It's still Sheldon Cooper we are talking about here.

But still, she could not get the image out of her head, she had seen it with her own two eyes.

Leonard, startled by her earlier outburst, opened the door of Penny's apartment, to see what was happening.

"Hey Penny, what is going on, I heard you shouting, everything all right?" he asked, while noticing an expression on her face he had never seen before.

"I…I…" she still was at a loss for words, much to her own amazement.

How could she explain to him what she just saw, when she couldn't wrap her mind around it?

"I need a drink" she finally said, walking back to her apartment, leaving the door open for him.

After a quick glance at the closed door of 4a, he followed her back towards her apartment, closing the door behind him. When he looked around, he found Penny standing in her kitchen, filling two glasses of wine, almost to the rim.

"Is this about what I said earlier about your acting career? He asked cautious, almost afraid for her response.

"I am so sorry, I shouldn't..." but she cut him off before he could finish the sentence.

"It's not about that" she replied, offering him one of the glasses of wine.

"I'd better not, I don't want to get another Migraine attack" he said, remembering the last time he had some.

"Believe me, you are going to need it" Penny told him, forcing the glass in his hand.

Leonard, looking even more worried now, sat down next to her on the sofa in her apartment.

He could not stop thinking about what happened between them a few hours ago, when she asked him to give her a 100% honest answer if he thinks she has what it takes to make it as an actress.

Penny, in the meanwhile, had already finished half her glass, and was now just staring straight in front of her, with an almost blank like expression on her face.

"What is it then?" Leonard finally asked, after taking a small sip from the glass she gave him before.

Penny was still not sure how to put to words what she had seen in the apartment across the hall, and even more unsure if she should tell Leonard about it.

Sheldon had more than once commented on her need to gossip, and she knew he would not appreciate it if her boyfriend, and even more important, his roommate and best friend found out this way. But could she keep this from him?

Knowing herself, she decided this was too big a secret to keep to herself, not to mention the amount of wine she had consumed in the last few hours caused her to be a blabbermouth.

"Do you remember earlier this year, when Sheldon and Kripke were forced to work together at the University, and what happened as a result of that?"

Leonard had not seen it coming that the evening was going to this turn at all, quickly taking a bigger sip of wine this time.

"You mean when Sheldon told Kripke about his intimate moments with Amy?" he asked, while feeling very uncomfortable by all this.

"No I mean when he told Kripke that Amy and he were having sex all the time, and that his work had suffered as a result of that" Penny replied seriously.

"That's what I meant…" but he decided not to continue down that path, trying to avoid to get into another fight with her.

"But what has that to do with you shouting over at my apartment, did you get into a fight with Sheldon about that?" Leonard asked, very confused about what she was telling him.

"I thought you were happy, albeit surprised, about it back then?"

"I was, and I still am" she said, looking at him.

"But knowing it, and seeing it happening right in front of my eyes, are two very different things" she told him, in a slightly louder voice.

After that, the room felt silent for a moment, as both were trying to recuperate from all that had happened this evening.

"What...what do you mean by seeing it?" Leonard finally had the gut to ask her after a few minutes, in which they both had emptied the wine glasses Penny had poured for them earlier.

"You mean they were, actual…? In the living room?" he stuttered trying to understand what she was saying.

Penny had already made herself over to the kitchen, to retrieve a second bottle of wine, after the last one was now empty. While she was opening it, she took this time to process Leonard's expressions, which were very easy to notice.

After she returned to the sofa with the bottle of wine in her hand, she set down again next to him, and started to fill both glasses again. She put the bottle on the table in front of her, and then turned towards Leonard.

"Well, not at that very moment" she said, and after hesitating for a moment, she continued "but I am sure they are by now".

Penny took another big sip of her wine glass, which was standing right in front of her, while contemplating about what she just told Leonard, eagerly awaiting his response.

But when the room felt silent again, she turned to look at him.

Leonard was staring down at the floor between his feet, slowly rubbing the temples on each side of his head.

"Migraine coming on?" Penny asked, afraid the wine had already taken effect on her boyfriend.

"Yes" he replied. "But not because of the wine, I think".

"I, I can't believe it" he continued. "Do I want to know what you saw over there?"

"You don't have a choice, I am going to tell you anyway, this is way too important to keep to myself" she said. "Besides, he is your best friend and roommate, don't you think he would want you to know?"

Leonard, still looking down, slowly started to straighten himself out on the sofa again, looking at Penny.

"Well, if it is so important, I would prefer to hear it from Sheldon himself. You know how private he is about his relationship with Amy".

"But if it was so private, why didn't they lock the door?" she responded immediately to him.

"Anyone could have walked in on them, and see whatever the hell they are doing".

Finally Leonard decided to give in, after seeing the look on Penny's face, which looked like she was about the burst.

"Ok, fine. Tell me exactly what you saw when you walked over there?" he asked her.

Taking a deep breath, Penny began.

"When I opened the front door of your apartment, I saw Amy in the kitchen, and Sheldon standing almost right in front of her".

"So, what's weird about that" Leonard asked her. "I don't see the big deal".

"That's because you never let me finish talking" she snapped back at him. "It's weird because the moment I stepped inside, Sheldon dropped his pants, right in front of Amy!" she almost yelled at him. Do you understand now why I've been freaking out ever since I slammed the door shut over there?" she continued on, without waiting for Leonard to interrupt her again.

"I'm never going to get that image of Sheldon, in his white underpants, trousers wrapped around his ankles, out of my mind" she said, with a look on her face if she was about to get sick.

"Are you serious, Sheldon did THAT?" Leonard asked her, when he finally was able to speak again, sharing the mental image with Penny.

"Why on earth would he do that? It doesn't make any sense to me" he continued on.

"Like I told you" Penny said "I think this is his way of, working on being physically intimate with Amy, like he told us before, remember?"

After taking a few moments to gather his thoughts, Leonard spoke again.

"And then what happened, did you say anything to them before you left?" he asked, almost curious to what else went on over there.

"No, I said nothing to them, what would I have said? I just let out a shriek and immediately left, I didn't want to see whatever would happen next.

Leonard simply nodded, agreeing with Penny.

"Yeah, that's understandable. I would have done the same thing" he told her, after drinking a bit more of the wine that was still in his glass.

"So…what do you think we should do next?" Penny pondered, almost to herself.

"Should we, go over there and talk to them about it?" she asked Leonard.

"You do whatever you want, but I am staying here tonight. No way am I going over there now" he replied.

"I'll just go over there tomorrow morning, and see if Sheldon or Amy brings it up".

* * *

"What was that all about? "Amy asked, as she saw Sheldon pulling his pants back up.

"No idea" Sheldon said.

"I guess Penny just doesn't know what's funny".

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**Hope you all liked my first chapter, feedback is appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: Thank you everyone who has read the first chapter, and an even bigger thanks to those who left some feedback. It really helps me.**

* * *

"What was that all about? "Amy asked, as she saw Sheldon pulling his pants back up.

"No idea" Sheldon said.

"I guess Penny just doesn't know what's funny".

Amy's mind had been all over the place this evening, she simply didn't know what to think anymore. She was very excited to have spent most of the day with Sheldon alone is his apartment, but on the other hand, she did got a little bored when Sheldon went through the entire dictionary, trying to determine which words are considered "funny". She was actually glad when she got the text from Bernadette if she and Sheldon were interested in grabbing a bite to eat.

"Sheldon, would you like to go out, and go for some dinner?" she asked, while Sheldon was still focused on his white board.

"Why do we need to go out for that, you know Thursday night is Pizza night" Sheldon simply stated, without even looking at her.

"Well, I just got a text from Bernadette inviting us to go out with her and Howard, sort of like a double date" Amy said, hoping this would bring out the Sheldon she knows exists deep within him.

At this time, Sheldon did turn away and focused his attention completely on her, which made Amy once again get excited. What was it about him that made her all giddy, when he simply looked at her? In the 3,5 years she knew Dr. Sheldon Cooper, this was one riddle she still hadn't figured out how to solve.

"If I could, I would, but I can't, so I shan't" she heard him say all of a sudden, still keeping his gaze upon her, with a little smile on his face.

"What, why not?" she asked. "I know it's not date night, but we do have to eat, why not go out together and have a lovely meal, to end this day together?"

"Because I'm not done yet, and I have a feeling I'm very close to finishing the definitive theory of comedy" he said, before turning to his white board again.

This man is a mystery to me, she could only think.

"I'm going to meet both of them, you can come or not" Amy told him, with a slightly tremble in her voice, which told her she was getting angry.

"Amy, can't you understand how important this is for me, you know how I feel about leaving things unfinished?" he asked her.

Amy obviously did know this, they had spent an entire evening together, with her helping Sheldon get through a series of games and events, which helped him deal with this. Or so she had thought, doubting herself now.

"I know it is important to you, and I support you in achieving this" she replied, thinking about the hours she spent in this apartment, conduction experiments together. "But you can continue working after you get back from the restaurant, and we can finish this evening together" Amy continued.

When she noticed Sheldon was once again fixated on his white board, scribbling a new scientific equation on it, she decided she had enough.

"Good night" Amy called out, after grabbing her coat, with a hand on the doorknob.

"And good night to you too" she heard Sheldon reply before she closed the front door.

* * *

"Where's Sheldon?" the question came floating towards her, when she was almost at the table, where her two friends were already sitting.

"He's home, trying to use science to determine the basis of humor" Amy stated, with a sad undertone. "It's exhausting, do you have any idea how hard it is to laugh at a knock-knock joke that starts with Knock-Knock-Knock Amy, Knock-Knock-Knock Amy, Knock-Knock-Knock Amy?" she sighed.

She quickly took of her coat, and hung it over the back of her chair, and sat down next to Howard, who, like Bernadette, was already glancing over the menu. After taking a sip of her water, Amy also started to look over the dishes described on the laminated piece of paper. She didn't really cared what she would eat tonight, her mind was too preoccupied to enjoy any of it anyway.

After all three had ordered, and the food had been delivered, Bernadette noticed Amy wasn't eating anything, she just kept moving food around on her plate.

"Everything all right Amy?" she asked, while keeping an eye on her.

"You seem to be miles away, you haven't taken a single bite".

Amy slowly started to look up, first towards Howard, who was now also looking at Amy, and then she turned to Bernadette.

"Everything is fine, just fine" she sighed.

"I guess this has something to do with Sheldon" Howard chimed in, after swallowing the food that was in his mouth.

"Did he finally drive you over the edge?" he continued.

"HOWARD!" Bernadette yelled at him. "What's wrong with you, can't you see Amy is upset about something, and you start making jokes?"

Howard noticed the angry stare from his wife, he knew that look all too well, and it didn't take long for him to realize that once again he had crossed a line.

"I'm sorry Amy" he quickly said to her. "You know me, always trying relieve the tension, by making some lame comment" he continued. "I was wrong to say that, I hope you can forgive me?"

Amy had now completely given up the notion that she would eat something here, and had put the fork down beside her plate. She was feeling so frustrated, confused and angry, she simply sat there, staring out in front of her.

After some time, what had seem to last forever to Howard and Bernadette, she finally spoke again.

"It's ok Howard, there is nothing to forgive, I know you meant well" Amy said, still gazing in front of her, not daring to look at either one of them.

"And you weren't wrong about it" she heard herself say, which came as an unexpected thing to say to her.

Both Bernadette and Howard were completely surprised by this outburst of Amy, neither of them had ever hear her say anything bad about Sheldon, for as long as they had known her now. Now they were both moving their food around, anxious about what would happen next.

"Wh…what do you mean I wasn't wrong?" Howard asked, after he stopped messing with the little food that was left on his plate.

"What happened, I thought you always enjoyed spending time alone with Sheldon?" he said, now turned almost completely sideways towards Amy.

"I do, and I also did today" Amy replied. "You know how Sheldon has been working on the idea of figuring out how to be funny, and I was excited to help him with this".

A silence fell between the three of them, Howard and Bernadette could clearly see that Amy was having a hard time, trying to tell them what was on her mind. They shared a look between, and it was immediately clear to both of them that it was better if Bernadette should continue this conversation instead of Howard, who was very uncomfortable by where this evening was heading.

"So, then what is wrong?" Bernadette asked. "You've spend all day with him, what happened?"

"It started all great, we discussed books he had read on the subject, he even used some of the methods he learned on me, and they were working most of the time".

"But you know Sheldon, everything has to be perfect, and he was really determined to find a way to invoke laughter at any time" she said.

"Sometime during the afternoon, he decided he would go through the entire dictionary, trying to figure out which words are funny and which aren't" Amy told both her friends, who were sitting dead silent, focused on every word she said.

"Well, to make a long story short, you can imagine what a tedious afternoon that was for me" she continued on. "After he finally had finished going through every single word, he asked me to start comparing, almost grading each word he had written down, on how funny they are compared to each other".

"I was so glad when you send the text, inviting us here" she said to Bernadette, in a slightly calmer voice, as if a big burden had been lifted of her shoulders.

"I was hoping if we could just leave the apartment for a few hours together, he could give his relentless research on this matter a rest" she sighed again. "But he preferred to keep working it, and I left, and came straight here".

"I, I don't know what to say" Bernadette finally replied, after she had given it some time to process all she just heard.

"What do you want to do?" she asked Amy, who was now looking eagerly for some useful advice.

"I have no idea, I just feel like going home, and take a long, relaxing bath" she said.

"That's actually a very good idea" Bernadette said, noticing that Howard was nodding in agreement with her.

"But if I may give you at least one piece of advice" she continued. "Maybe you should ask Penny for help on this matter, I know she is you best friend, and not to mention she knows Sheldon for a very long time, she'll know what to do".

Amy gave a little smile, feeling glad she was able to be so open about what she felt to someone.

"Thank you Bernadette, and you too Howard. You both are excellent friends" Amy said to both of them.

"I'll give it some thought, and then I'll decide what to do" she finished, after picking up her coat again.

* * *

Friday morning, still very early, her phone was buzzing for the second time.

It reminded her she had received a text message, but hadn't find the strength to look at it. When she heard the second buzz, she turned over and picked it up, and immediately after reading the message, she sat up straight in her bed. This caused Leonard, who had been lying next to her, to jump out of bed, looking alarmed at her.

"What was that all about?" he asked her, with a startled voice.

Penny said nothing, and simply showed him the text on her phone.

_We need to talk about last night, it's very important. _

_Amy._

* * *

**Next chapter will be up soon.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A special thanks this time to Rachel (you know who you are) for the great talks we have had over the last few days, you have been a great help. Maybe even more then you realize.**

* * *

_We need to talk about last night, it's very important. _

_Amy._

This isn't happening, it just isn't real.

Penny was still sitting up in her bed, after she had read Amy's message for the first time 10 minutes ago. After showing Leonard the message on her phone, she had read it twice more.

Amy wanted to talk about last night. Things must have really started to heat up between her and Sheldon after she left the apartment across the hall.

And now she wants to talk about it? Does she think I want to know all the details about their dalliance?

"What should I do? She asked Leonard, who got dressed in the meanwhile, when Penny was still milling things over in her head.

"Clearly something big did happen after you left the apartment, and since you're Amy's best friend, she wants to talk to you about it." He replied. "Knowing Amy, I don't think it's weird at all".

"Not weird at all, really?" she said to him, in slightly higher pitched voice, as she was surprised by his response to her question. "Then why don't you go and have the same talk with Sheldon, then we will see if you still think it isn't weird" Penny continued on.

"That's completely different, and you know it" Leonard said. "You know Sheldon doesn't talk about this kind of stuff easily, whereas Amy isn't shy about talking all kinds of personal and intimate details of her life with you and Bernadette.

Or do I have to remind you all the information you passed on to me that Amy told you and Bernadette on your Girl's Nights? For example when she told you about her tilted uterus, or her electric toothbrush named Gerard? "

"Fine, I get it" Penny finally replied after she listened to Leonard's ramble, which actually made sense to her. "I'll invite her over, so we can talk about it here" she said, while starting to send a text message to Amy.

_Sure Amy, we can talk tonight at my place if you want, I hope everything is all right? _

* * *

Leonard decided to go to his apartment after he had a bite to eat, since it was about time to go to work anyway.

When he entered 4a, he noticed that Sheldon was just putting away the last of the dishes, both of last night and also the ones he has used for breakfast.

"Ah, Leonard, glad you are here" he said when he saw that Leonard was now standing in the living room.

"Why is that?" he asked, afraid that Penny might get her way, and that he would need to have the talk after all with Sheldon, before she got to talk to Amy.

"What do you mean, why? It's clearly time to go the University, I just need to grab my laptop and I'm ready to go" Sheldon said, much to the relief of Leonard.

As curious as Leonard was about what had happened over at their apartment after Penny had left, he knew better then to start asking questions.

Not only would it make Sheldon feel very uncomfortable, he also cared enough about his friend to respect his privacy. Not to mention he would know it soon enough after Penny and Amy would get together later today.

* * *

Penny had been working the day shift at the Cheese Cake Factory, so she was home in time for a shower, before Amy would arrive.

Fearing the discussion that would surely take place tonight, she had made sure to stock up on wine.

She would be needing it, and plenty of it.

Almost at the exact moment the clock showed that it was 7 o'clock, Amy knocked on her door.

Penny couldn't help but smile at the fact that Amy was nearly as punctual when it came to arriving on the agreed time as Sheldon was.

"Hi Ames" Penny said enthusiastically, trying to sound like she normally would. "How are you doing today?" she continued on, while Amy walked in to her apartment.

After closing the front door, and seeing that Amy already had thrown her coat and purse on the nearby chair, she started walking towards the kitchen.

"Want anything to drink?" Penny asked.

"A glass of wine would be nice" Amy replied to her blond friend, while she set herself down on the couch.

Thank God, Penny thought. I am not going to be only one drinking tonight, which should make this evening a little bit less awkward.

After opening a bottle of white wine, and filling two wine glasses, she carried them over to the couch.

After handing one of them to Amy, and placing her own glass on the table in front of her, she also set down.

The two friends sat silently next to each other, you could feel a dreadful tone filling the apartment, before Amy spoke up.

"So, I guess you are wondering what happened last night?" she asked, while looking at Penny.

"Well, to be honest" she replied "I've been trying not to think about, it was pretty clear what was going on when I walked in on you and Sheldon".

Amy turned a little bit on the couch, so she could look her friend better in the eye, was surprised by this statement from Penny. It was pretty clear to her? What did she think had happened?

"What do you mean by that, what do you think was going on?" she asked, still completely oblivious to the look on Penny's face.

"Oh come one Amy, what am I supposed to think happened?" Penny said. "I walk in and I see Sheldon dropping his pants down to his ankles, with you just a few feet away from him. Do I really need to spell it out?" she continued on.

Amy, once again taken by complete surprise, felt a sudden blush coming on. She had never even considered how it could mean anything close to what Penny had suggested just now. How could she think a thing like that, she knew that they were nowhere near that part of their relationship?

Quickly, she lifted the glass of wine up to her lips, and took a little sip. But when she took a moment, and trying to see the situation from Penny's perspective, she could understand the misconception between.

"I think I see where this is all coming from, and let me tell you, you are completely wrong" Amy said. "Let me try and explain it to you."

Now it was Penny's turn to drink some of the wine, and she slightly adjusted her position on the couch, turning a bit more towards Amy.

"Sheldon has been reading several books on the subject of humor, and in one of those books he read that one of the elements in being funny, is the element of surprise." Amy started.

"He had been trying several things that had been not successful in regards to this concept. So after a while, when I was making tea, he turned and unbuttoned his pants, which caused it to fall down.

Believe me, this was as much as a surprise to me, as it was to you, since that was the moment you walked in" she explained it further, while looking towards Penny from time to time, who now simply gazed at her, with an expression on her face closely resembling the one she had last night.

Penny was trying to process all the information given to her just now, trying to make any sense of it all. Strangely enough, Amy's explanation wasn't that farfetched at all, considering that Sheldon had indeed been trying to improve this side of him.

"Go on" Penny told Amy. "What happened after I left the apartment then, if you two didn't ….you know?"

"Well, the moment after you left, Sheldon simply pulled his pants back up, and continued working on his theory" she replied. "Not long after that, I got a text from Bernadette. She was inviting Sheldon and me to join her and Howard for some dinner".

"But Sheldon didn't want to go out, he preferred to stay inside, and continue working on his theory. But I was done for the day, I had already spent hours listening to him, helping him" she went on.

"I just wanted to do something fun together, besides working on ridiculous equations, but he just ignored me and continued working".

"I was starting feel neglected and got so annoyed with his behavior, that I just grabbed my things and left to meet Howard and Bernadette."

"Well to make a long story short, we talked about what happened between me and Sheldon, and Bernadette suggested I would talk to you about it, since you've known Sheldon longer that both me and Bernadette. Maybe you could offer any advice?" she asked, with a defeated look on her face.

"You know I am always here for you, whenever you need me" Penny immediately responded, knowing that Amy could use some encouragement.

"But I don't think you two really need my help, you just need to sit Sheldon down and explain how you feel about his behavior last night. If anyone can explain things to him calmly, it is you" she said to her.

"Maybe so" Amy replied, but I haven't told you everything yet, there is one more things that happened last night between Sheldon and me".

"What else did he do to you? You know can I hogtie him with the greatest of ease" Penny responded.

"It's actually something I did, not Sheldon. And I am really unsure about how I feel about it now".

"Something you did?" What is it then?" Penny asked, seeing that Amy was close to tears now, she gently punt an arm around her shoulders.

"You know you can tell me anything, right" she said.

"I said something to Sheldon when he was going through the dictionaries, and he simply shrugged it off as a joke from my part".

"But after I came home from the restaurant, and had taken a long, warm bath, I went through everything that had happened that day in my mind. "

"At that moment, I realized that what I said to him at that very moment, wasn't a joke at all. It was something I just never imagined myself saying it to Sheldon, not to mention meaning it" she said to Penny, not noticing the first tears started to fall down to the floor.

"What did you say to him, that has gotten you so upset?" Penny wondered out loud, now pulling Amy even closer to her.

"I…I…I told him that I don't want to go out with him anymore" she sobbed.

Penny, completely startled by these words she never expected to here from her best friend, momentarily let go of Amy, before quickly restoring herself and pulling her close once more.

"You…you mean you want to break up with Sheldon, are you sure about this?" she asked, not sure what to do at this time.

"I don't know what I want, I just can't go on like this anymore" she told her. "I love it when Sheldon focusses his attention on me, and those moments are the happiest moments of my life. But at other times, he just completely ignores my feelings, not caring about me at all, as if I wasn't there."

"What do you think I should do, you have known Sheldon so much longer then I do" Amy continued.

"I don't want to lose him, but it just isn't working anymore for me like this" now noticing the tears on her face, and trying to wipe them away with her sleeve, not caring how she looked.

"Well" Penny said after taking some time to think about what she could say to Amy.

"I do have one idea that could make Sheldon realize your importance in his life, because we all know that you really mean a lot to him".

"What is it then?" Amy asked, hearing a slight tremble of hesitation in her own voice.

"All right, I will tell you. But I most warn you, it will not be easy, for either of you. But you have to trust me, that no matter how hard it's going to get, you will follow my advice."

* * *

**Thank you all for sharing this story with me as it develops. Please, after you have read this chapter, leave me some feedback, about what you liked or didn't like.**


	4. Chapter 4

"All right, I will tell you. But I most warn you, it will not be easy, for either of you. But you have to trust me, that no matter how hard it's going to get, you will follow my advice."

* * *

Two days had passed since Amy had revealed to Penny she was having doubts if she could continue to date Sheldon. After she had recovered from this bomb dropped in her lap, she had thought of a way, which to her opinion, should work to snap Sheldon out of whatever state he was in at this very moment.

What she did not had the nerve to tell Amy though, was that the success of this mission, depended for a great deal on Amy's strength to see it through, and not cave in when times would get rough, even rougher than they already were at this moment for Amy.

And then there was Sheldon. In Penny's mind, he was always the big unpredictable factor in the relationship between Amy and Sheldon.

With Amy, you always knew what was going on, since she wasn't too shy to talk about most of what happened between them. But Sheldon was something completely else.

Leonard was right about that, he never talked about what went on between him and Amy, he's very private in these matters.

For that reason she had decided not to let Leonard in on her plan, because she knew it could ruin it, even before it started. She did tell him what Amy had told her, simply to make him aware of the situation.

If things would get out of hand, she would fill him in, because she would need him there.

In these two days, nothing really eventful had happened. The group didn't have any plans together anyway, so that worked really in Amy's favor, to start laying the foundation for what she had planned together with Penny.

Amy had been very doubtful at first, because she did see a slim chance of this backfiring, but Penny convinced her it was foolproof, even the brilliant Sheldon Cooper would not figure it out.

* * *

Back in the apartment 4a, Sheldon was sitting in his spot that evening, watching the Hobbit part 1 with Director's commentary together with Leonard, who was sitting on the other side of the couch.

When they finished watching it, and Sheldon had stored the Blu-ray away, Leonard went to the bathroom, and after that to bed.

Sheldon wanted to work a little on an article he was writing to be published in a scientific magazine next month.

Not to mention the fact that he was waiting for Amy to call him, so that they could arrange their schedule for the coming week.

Amy was still after all working at Caltech, and Sheldon preferred to go over both of theirs agenda's each Sunday night, to see where they might have to move their agreed upon social events, like eating lunch together.

When after half an hour, it was now almost 11 o'clock, he still hadn't heard from Amy, he pondered what the reason could be for this?

It wasn't like Amy to forget things like this, in fact, her punctuality was one of the many endearing qualities he admired in her.

As it was already past his usual bedtime for a Sunday evening, he started a Skype session, and waited for Amy to answer. When after sometime had past, she still hadn't answered, he was puzzled about this.

Maybe Amy had decided to turn in early, as she most likely had a busy day ahead of her, and had been simply too tired to call him this evening.

He would visit her office tomorrow morning, so that they work their weekly schedule out.

With that thought, he turned off his laptop.

After brushing his teeth in the bathroom, he too went to his own bedroom, put on his Sunday pajama and carefully lay down, precisely in the center of his bed.

* * *

When they arrived at the University next morning, Leonard and Sheldon quickly parted ways after walking the building where both of their offices were located.

Sheldon, not paying any attention to his colleagues while walking at a brisk pace.

He did said a few "Good morning" along the way, but for the most part his mind was already working theories and equations.

After entering his office, he quickly took his laptop out of the messenger bag he was carrying, and placed out correctly on his desk.

Looking on his watch, he noticed that it was now 8:23 in the morning, which resulted in him walking out of his office, and closing the door behind him.

Luckily the building Amy was working in wasn't too far from his. He knew she would also be in early, as she really loved her work, and was always eager to continue her research.

When approached the door to her office, he noticed that it was already open wide, which caused him to see his girlfriend had already put away her coat, and was just buttoning up her white lab coat.

This side of Amy never failed to put a smile on his face, and it didn't fail too again this time.

He was actual proud of her, a noted Neurobiologist, who was exceptional at her work.

"Good morning Amy" he said with a joyful tone in his voice.

"Good morning Sheldon" she replied, while walking over the desk where her computer was located, and turning it on.

"How are you today?" she asked, waiting for the monitor to light up.

"I am quite well actually, glad that's Monday again, I love starting a fresh new week" Sheldon said, keeping his eyes fixed on her.

"So what brings you to my office this early, did something happen?" Amy wondered.

"Something didn't happen actually, that is the reason why I'm here" he said. "You didn't call me last night to go over our mutual schedule this week, and when I tried calling you, there was no answer".

Amy, full aware that this all was part of the plan, turned towards him, finally looking straight at him.

"Yes, sorry about that. I was very tired last night, and decided to turn in early" she told him.

"And sadly, I won't have much time if any to spend time with you this week. I'm still behind on my research project, so I really need to buckle down on it" she continued on, slowly making her way back towards the computer, which was waiting for her to enter the login info.

"You really are an asset to this faculty Amy, they are lucky to have you here. You might make it in an actual respectable part of the University" Sheldon stated clearly.

"Thanks, I guess" Amy replied, not sure how to respond to this. How can he give me a compliment and belittle the field I am working in at the same time?

"You do understand what this means?" she asked him. "I won't be able to join you for lunch this week"

"Oh, don't you worry about me. I'll just go and eat with Leonard and the others" he said, now again smiling. "I will leave you too it now, I don't want to be the reason you fall even more behind, good day Dr. Fowler" she could hear him saying, while he already was turned around and leaving her office.

* * *

Amy continued working that day on her study of the importance of monoamine oxidase enzyme in primate physiology. She hadn't completely lied to Sheldon when she said that she was behind on her research, but this didn't make her feel any easier about her conversation with Sheldon this morning.

Penny had said it would be hard, and at that time she had agreed with her. But who knew it would be this difficult to keep away from Sheldon? She barely made it through the weekend, and came very close to giving in and calling him, just to hear his voice.

And when he showed up this morning, speaking to her after being separated for two days without any form of contact, made start to doubt the validity of the plan she and Penny had discussed to every detail, after Penny told her about it.

The whole idea that Sheldon would actually start to miss their mutual lunches at the University, the littlest text message between them whenever anything would happen during the day, and hopefully her actual presence near him seemed ludicrous to her.

The following days continued down this road, and Sheldon seemed to respect her wish about being left alone. She had not spoken to him, she got the occasional text message that basically said the same thing each and every time.

"I hope your study will reach a successful conclusion"

She did not respond to any of them, just like Penny had asked her not to do.

On Friday she had ran in to Leonard in one of the hallways, when he had been over to discuss something with one of his colleagues who was working in the same building as Amy was.

"Hello Leonard" she greeted him while moving towards him.

"Oh, hello Amy. How are you doing?" he asked, with suddenly his conversation with Penny coming back to him after Amy had left that Friday.

"Oh, I'm doing all right, busy at work" she replied to him, noticing the strange, almost cautious look on his face.

"Did Penny talk to you about our conversation last Friday night?" she asked, knowing the answer already.

"Yes, she did tell me about what you went through that Thursday with Sheldon, and about your doubts about you two".

"But you have to understand that she didn't do it out of disrespect to you, she is worried about both you" he continued on.

"Thank you for understanding, and telling me this" it has been a rough week for me, I haven't even had time to catch up with all of you, work has been keeping me from hanging out with you all.

"How's Sheldon doing, I've missed talking to him all week" she said.

"Oh, I don't know" Leonard finally replied to her. "He seemed fine actually. He has been rather busy as well, you know how he can be."

"I remember" Amy said, thinking back to that dreadful day last week, when Sheldon was happier spending time with his precious white board, then going out with her.

"But did say he was glad that you were catching up with your work."

"Yes, I am slowly starting to make some progress with the study. It looks like it is going to be a promising time when I start processing all the data I've collected so far."

"Well, I have to be leaving soon, Sheldon was already finishing up when I talked to him before coming here. He is probably already waiting to go home." Leonard told her. "I do hope you will be able to take a break from all the work you've been doing, Penny and I miss you".

"Yes I do too, hopefully soon I can take it a bit slower, and I want to catch up with all of you too. Talk to you soon, I promise" Amy simply replied.

After Leonard was gone, she returned to her own office, and immediately grabbed her phone, while thinking over some of the things Leonard had just shared with her.

"Sheldon is glad I'm catching up with my work?"

While she realized it wasn't anything bad, but after a full week of no actual contact, she had expected him to notice her absence from his life.

But thinking even further back to the last few text messages she had received from him, none of those stated any secret about what he felt about her keeping away from him.

Maybe Penny underestimated Sheldon's ignorance on the matter? Maybe the reason Sheldon failed to see through their plan, is not because he wasn't smart enough, but because he really didn't feel anything romantically about her.

This thought immediately caused to start the tears, which she had been fighting off all week, to break through her barriers.

After a few minutes, she slowly gained control again of her body, and noticed she still was grasping her phone in her hand.

A few moments later Penny's phone, laying nonchalant on the coffee table in her apartment started buzzing.

As soon as she picked it up, and seeing Amy's name on the display, she quickly answered.

"Hi Amy, I am glad you finally called me back, I was wondering how you are doing, I've missed you. Not to mention I am curious how our little plan is working?" she asked.

All she could hear was "It…it…it failed" before she only heard her best friend crying uncontrollable on the other end of the line.

* * *

**I know, another heavy chapter (at least to me). But I promise, things will start to get better soon. Maybe not next chapter, but stick around.**


	5. Chapter 5

All she could hear was "It…it…it failed" before she only heard her best friend crying uncontrollable on the other end of the line.

* * *

"Amy?" Penny asked her after she understood the words Amy was muttering between the sobs.

"Where are you, what is going on?" she continued to ask, feeling her own anxiety growing within her mind.

While listening to the sounds coming to her, her brain began to race, pondering over everything she knew that had happened this last week, all the way back towards the awkward moment of walking in on Amy and Sheldon.

It may have been over a week ago now, but she realized that Amy was not like her, and while she herself might not have lingered on such events, her best friend might very well be.

After all, this was completely new territory for Amy, she had never been in a romantically relationship before Sheldon, let alone one that had lasted this long.

Could she have been mistaken about this whole idea of getting Sheldon to finally step up the plate, and be the boyfriend she knew he could be, and even more so, the boyfriend Amy deserves?

Playing hard to get had always worked for her in the past, simply ignoring a guy she actually was interested in, while giving out subtle hints was something she was good at.

Why wouldn't it work, how could it have failed this time?

"Amy, Sweetie, you need to listen to me" she spoke up after her thoughts came back to the crying sounds that were still coming from the phone in her hand.

"I don't know what is going on, but I am coming over to you right now, and we will talk about whatever is wrong."

"I…I can't talk about it, I just need to be alone" Amy said, fighting hard not to let her emotions take over once again.

"No you do not" Penny almost shouted now at her, not because she was angry, but because she didn't know how to get through to her. "We need to talk about this, you've been alone all week, it's time you filled me in on everything, you hear?"

"There is no reason to come over, I'm still at Cal-tech, but I am going home right now" Amy told her.

"I can work through this, I've been alone for the biggest part of my life, I will manage."

Those words had hit Penny like a brick, how could she not have thought about that.

Amy had always been alone, during all those years when she went through elementary school, junior high, high school, undergrad and grad school.

And now even her best friend had left her all alone, during what must have been the toughest week of her life. And worst of all, she had suggested that keeping away from the one person she had ever loved, was actual a good idea?

"Maybe you have had to deal with this on your own before you met us, Amy" she said. "But not anymore. Why don't you go home, and take a warm bath? It will calm you down, and by the time you get out, I'll be there. I am getting in my car right now, and I'll meet you there."

"You...are you sure you want to come over, I'm a complete mess" Amy replied.

"Of course I am, and don't you dare to try and talk me out of it. You know how determined I am when I made up my mind" Penny stated.

"Ok, thank you for being there for me Penny, I know I can always count on you to be there for me" she heard Amy say while putting her phone down, and shifting her car into Drive.

* * *

The ride back from the University left Leonard with a strange, awkward feeling all through his body. It took him quite some time to realize why that was.

Sheldon had been ready to leave, just as he suspected when he returned from meeting his colleagues and stumbling across Amy in the hallways of the building where her office was located.

Sheldon had been unusually quiet in the car, from the moment Leonard pulled out of the parking lot, until right now, when they were just a few miles from the apartment.

Knowing full well what had happened between both him and Amy, he assumed that was the reason for his behavior. But still, something in the back of his mind wondered if that really was the only thing going on in the brain of his brilliant, yet for the most time, intolerable roommate and best friend.

Sheldon had been staring absentmindedly out of the side window, he had not even tried to engage Leonard in one of his usual car games.

"Sheldon, I have to confess something to you, and I know it will upset you" he finally spoke, while parking the car just outside the entrance to the lobby of their apartment building.

"Penny told me what happened between you and Amy last week" he continued on, with a slight hesitation in his voice, unsure how his roommate would react to this revelation.

"What happened between me and Amy?" he repeated Leonard. "Nothing happened between me and Amy last week. Well, at least nothing noteworthy."

After this, Sheldon opened the car door, got out and walked straight to the door to enter the building.

Holding the door open for Leonard to walk inside, they both started ascending the staircase, both engaged in silent thoughts.

Could he really think that everything that Amy had told Penny about that Thursday, was nothing to worry about? Could he really be so oblivious?

Sure Sheldon had his quirks as Amy liked to call them, but he was in fact a brilliant man, and Leonard had seen him change over the last years.

Most recently he and Leonard actual had a serious talk about when Penny had proposed to him in a drunken state, and much to his surprise had given him some very good advice.

Leonard unlocked the front door to their apartment, immediately set his messenger bag next to his desk and walked towards the kitchen.

Sheldon had also put away his bag, after taking his laptop out and placing it back in the exact spot on his desk, hooking the power cable in it and turning it on.

"You want something from the refrigerator?" Leonard asked, while he poured himself a glass of water from a previously opened bottle.

"I'd prefer some tea actually, Chamomile please" he replied.

Chamomile?

One more clue that something was up today with Sheldon, since he only drank Chamomile tea when he was upset with something.

After he had finished making the hot beverage for him, he walked over to the living room, where Sheldon of course was already sitting in his spot.

He placed the cup of steaming tea in front of him, and then sat down in the chair almost next to where Sheldon was sitting.

Now he felt the need to try and get Sheldon to talk about what happened according to him about the evening he had spent with Amy here in this very apartment.

"I would like to come back to our conversation we had in the car" Leonard started. "I know you said nothing important happened between you two, but I have a feeling that something did happen."

"Where is this all coming from?" Sheldon asked his friend, after which he drank some of the tea.

"I know how much you want to keep things private, when it comes to your relationship with Amy. I respect that, I hope you know that" he said, seeing Sheldon nodding in agreement.

"However, I have kept some information from you this week, that I now feel is important that I share it with you."

"You have kept important information about my relationship with Amy from me? What information are you talking about?" Sheldon now quickly responded, slowly getting a worried look on his face.

"Do you remember last week, when you were here alone with Amy, and Penny walked in suddenly?" Leonard asked him.

"Of course I do, but she immediately left, probably because she realized she was interrupting me and Amy" he replied.

"Yes, that is true. But that is not what I was trying to say" Leonard said.

"The next morning, Penny got a text message from Amy, which said she wanted to talk to her about that Thursday night. She said it was very important".

"To make a long story short, Penny and Amy met up later that night. Apparently, Amy was very upset when they spoke together" Leonard went on, seeing that the worrying look on Sheldon's face became more and more prominent.

"Amy was upset? Are you sure?" Sheldon was now asking.

"Maybe Penny simply misunderstood, if Amy had really been upset with something, she would have told me."

"Actually, this time she would not. There is no easy way to say this Sheldon, but the reason why Amy talked to Penny and not you, is because you are the reason she was so devastated."

"I don't know what went on between you and Amy, but I have a feeling you do know" Leonard said towards Sheldon, who had now collapsed back against the cushions of the couch.

Silence, the only sound that filled the apartment was the breathing of them both. Silence.

* * *

Penny could not stop blaming herself, she now too was getting close to tears.

Hers however were not only because she felt Amy's pain, which was still ringing in her mind.

The real reason she now could feel her getting emotional as well, because she was mad at herself.

How could she have thought that the advice she had given Amy, would have worked?

She knows that Sheldon cares for Amy, but he's not like any guy she had ever met, even when compared to Leonard it was like night and day. Especially when it comes to love.

"Hold on Amy, I am almost here" she whispered to herself, while speeding down the road towards Glendale.

When she finally arrived, she jumped out of the car and hurried towards the entrance.

Now standing in front of apartment 314, she knocked.

"Amy, it's me. "

No response, and closely listening, she heard nothing. No sounds were coming from the apartment.

Could it be that Amy still wasn't here?

Once again she knocked, not saying anything this time.

After what seemed to be forever, she heard that someone slowly was walking towards the door.

When it opened she saw her best friend standing there.

Amy was already dressed in her nightgown, wearing her bathrobe over it, which was being held closed by the belt which was tied around her waist.

Penny's heart just dropped when she saw Amy standing there, knowing by the looks of it she had not taken that bath yet as she had suggested over the phone.

Amy's eyes were very red and swollen, which told Penny she had been crying probably ever since she got home. She could even know see the tears in her eyes.

Amy was not saying a word, after she had opened the door, she simply walked back towards her couch, and let her fall back on it.

Penny followed her inside, closing the door behind her, and sat down right next to her.

As she also was crying at this moment, caused by the pain she had seen in Amy's eyes when she had answered her knocks. Therefor the only thing she could think about now was to put her arms around Amy.

"He…he…does not love me".

Amy's words filled the room, but leaving nothing but silence behind.

"He just cares for me as a friend, not as his girlfriend" she said between the sobs.

"I tried so hard to stick to your plan Penny, and all I got from him were a few texts in which he wished me luck on my work."

"At first I thought he was merely respecting my wish to be left to my work, but he never even asked me once if I wanted to meet up afterwards."

"I am so, so sorry Amy" Penny finally pulled herself together long enough to talk to Amy.

"This is all my fault, I completely misjudged the situation. And to make matters even worse, I left you all alone to deal with this, where I should have been supportive of you."

"It never came to me what for impact my advice would have on you, I was simply focused on what it would do to Sheldon. And I even got that wrong…"

"Oh Penny, this is not your fault" Amy replied.

"I guess it made things perfectly clear to me, what kind of relationship I have with Sheldon."

"He sees me as a friend, nothing more" she sighed.

"But I don't understand, it makes no sense to me" Penny spoke up.

"You don't know this, but Leonard and I have had a few talks with Sheldon about your relationship, especially over the last year. We all know that Sheldon has never had any experience with having to deal with romantic feelings, but has stated on several occasions that he is working on them.

"I know that, he has said those words to me to. During that night when we were supposed to go to Vegas, but ended up playing Dungeons & Dragons with the guys, he told me the same thing after I had ran off to his bedroom."

"But here we are, and we have made no progress ever since."

Penny was surprised to have heard that Sheldon has said those things back then, she had always been curious to know, but she had known better then to ask.

"So what do you want to do now?" Penny finally asked, fearing the answer that was had been floating around the room ever since she stepped inside.

"I have no choice in this matter. It is clear to me that Sheldon will never feel the same way about me, as I do about him" Amy said.

"I have to let him go, before it completely tears me apart."

"Oh…Ok" Penny stuttered.

"I know that I am in no place right now to give you anymore advice, but please think this over. At least sleep on it, and make a decision tomorrow. You don't want to do anything hasty."

Amy could not hold back any longer, and started crying again.

"Why do you have to be so nice to me?" Amy said softly,

"Because I am your best friend, and you are mine" Penny replied, showing a smile on her face.

"Now please take that bath and try to set your mind at ease, you have been through enough this week.

After that I suggest you try to have a good night sleep."

Noticing Amy was actually listening to her as she saw her move towards the bathroom, and moments later she heard the water running, she too got up.

After Penny did a little cleaning up in Amy's apartment, she left a note on Amy's kitchen counter

_Call me tomorrow morning._

* * *

A few hours later Amy woke up from a restless dream, she was sure she heard a noise coming from her living room. In her half-awake state, she put on the bathrobe again over her nightgown, and made her way towards the door of her bedroom. There it was again, she clearly heard something, but she still was unable to recognize what it was.

After she finally made it to the living room, which was covered in darkness, except for the pale moonlight that was shining in, she heard it the sound a third time, and now she did know what it was.

_Knock-Knock-Knock Amy, Knock-Knock-Knock Amy, Knock-Knock-Knock Amy._

* * *

**Much of the this chapter was written with the song Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) from Green Day playing in the back of my mind. To me, that song always reminds me of no matter how bad things might be, they will improve over time.  
**

_Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road_  
_ Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go_  
_ So make the best of this test, and don't ask why_  
_ It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time_

_ It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right,_  
_ I hope you had the time of your life._


	6. Chapter 6

_Knock-Knock-Knock Amy, Knock-Knock-Knock Amy, Knock-Knock-Knock Amy._

* * *

When Leonard had spoken those final words last night, Sheldon felt the world crumbling around him. Amy was upset, devastated because of him. Something he had done. He knew that others found him annoying, irritating and obnoxious most of the time.

He knew that sometimes his actions would leave others frustrated, but he was always aware of why he did those things. It was not only to show his superiority when it came to intelligence, as his friends had told him repeatedly, his first and foremost intend had always been to help them with whatever was troubling them.

His only exception to this had been Amy. Whenever she was troubled, insecure or hurt, he had always tried to be there for her. At those moments he has set aside his own problems, and he simply was there.

For her. Not for anyone else, just her.

But now he had crossed a line. He had done something to Amy which has caused her to run to Penny, not to him. Leonard had not been able, or maybe not willing to tell why Amy was upset.

His mind had been rambling on all over last week's events, every word spoken between them, every text message send. He did not see where he went wrong.

He had thanked her several times that Thursday, when she had been incredible helpful in his research.

He had wished her good luck after she had told him that she had fallen behind on her work, and therefor would not have the time to join him on the lunches they usually shared together ever since she started working at the same University as he did.

"Why can't I figure this out?" he had asked himself several times during the night.

After he and Leonard had their conversation which ended in a stunning silence, Leonard told him that it was getting late, and that he was going to bed.

He had heard the words, unknowingly signaling that he understood them. He however did not move, or showed any signs of getting up. His mind was still trying to figure out what he possible could have done.

As a result of not being able to solve this problem, his logical brain slowly started taking over.

He knew that whenever faced with an issue that seemed impossible to find the answer to, distraction and rest were the best actions to take.

A refreshing shower, followed by a good night's rest would do surely do the trick, as an uninterrupted REM sleep cycle was important to any human being, even one as brilliant and remarkable as him.

When he had finished his usual rituals before he would lay down in his own bed, he undressed, neatly folding his clothes and placing them on the dresser that was standing against the wall of his bedroom. Just like his mother had taught him.

After he had gotten into bed, carefully pulling up the covers to the correct level, he closed his eyes and waited for sleep to take him away from the turmoil that was going on inside of him.

Only the turmoil did not subside, it continued on, not letting him get to that much needed and desired rest. Pondering over what he could possible do to stop this from going on all night, he folded back the covers, and got out of bed and moved back through the living room into the kitchen.

A cup of warm milk would do the trick for him, although it had never been scientifically proven.

But just when he was about the pour the milk into his stone mug, he realized what he really needed to do.

* * *

She sat on the edge of her bathtub, watching the water level slowly rising. The air in her bathroom was starting to be filled with steam, and a subtle fragrance of vanilla was starting to become more prominent, as a result of the bath oils she used.

When the water had risen to the desired level, she took of her bathrobe, followed by the rest of her clothing. The moment her right foot hit the water, she pulled it back as she noticed it was a little warmer then she was used to. The second time she just continued on, knowing that she would get used to the temperature as soon as she sat down in the tub.

Now leaning back, she let herself be almost fully submerged beneath the water, and she could feel the scented air combined with the hot water was starting to take effect.

Penny may have been wrong with her advice regarding Sheldon and me, but at least she was right about this.

Although she had been reluctant for Penny to come over when she had called her earlier today, she had been glad that her friend was not so easy to refuse. She really needed Penny to be here tonight.

Despite the state of her relationship with Sheldon, she was happy to know that Penny, but also Leonard were always there for her, whenever she needed it.

She had never had any friends during all those years growing up, especially not friends like this.

The only real time she got to be around other people her age at social events was when someone was celebrating a birthday, but even then she had always felt like an outsider.

After soaking in her bathtub for about an hour, she finally got out and dried herself of and got dressed again. It had really felt like a therapeutic session, after a few minutes she had noticed that her mind started to drift away from all that had caused her this emotional pain all week.

Now she felt that she also could comply to Penny's second suggestion before she had left her apartment, sleeping.

When she had closed the bedroom door behind her, she dropped the robe on the floor, not bothered to pick it up as she usually would do. Quickly she entered her bed once again, pulling the covers all the way up to her chin, and then turned on her side, feeling like she was wrapped in a warm, safe cocoon.

It didn't take long before she fell asleep, and shortly after the dreams came to her.

These dreams all shared one single component, Sheldon.

In the first dream, her subconscious took her back to the day she had met Sheldon for the first time.

She had been doubtful back then, even after reading his impressive record of accomplishments for a scientist his age. But she would not linger on it too long, as it was just one date to fulfill her obligations to her mother regarding her social life.

The second, and last dream she remembered was much more disturbing. In this dream she was picturing her life as it could have been if she had never met Sheldon, and this caused her body to toss and turn in the comforts of her own bed.

At that moment she heard the sounds coming from her living room, and when she was standing in the living room, finally recognizing what the sound was, only one thought entered her mind.

"He's here."

* * *

When she slowly unlocked and opened the front door of her apartment, she saw the familiar face of Sheldon. Now with one hand trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes, Amy noticed something was off about her boyfriend, but she could not tell what it exactly was.

"Sheldon, what are you doing here?" she asked, noticing her voice was not sounding as herself, which told her she was not yet fully awake yet.

"I…I couldn't sleep tonight" he replied, not looking at her, moving his gaze from side to side, avoiding her eyes like that.

"Why's that, is something wrong?" Amy asked.

"Yes, there is something very wrong, but may I come in please? I don't want to discuss this out in the hallway." Sheldon replied in a soft voice.

"Of course you can come in" she said, stepping aside so he could enter her apartment.

When she had closed the door behind him, she turned on the light and noticed that Sheldon was already sitting down, still wearing his jacket.

"Would you like to take your jacket of, you might feel a bit more comfortable then" Amy said, now suddenly very awake by the bright light in the room.

"That's a good idea" Sheldon said, as he stood up to move the zipper down of his jacket, taking it off and placing it carefully on the side of the couch.

After he had sat down again, he watched as Amy moved past him, and joined him on the couch, but leaving adequate space between them.

"So, Sheldon. Can you now please tell me why you are here? It's already past midnight, and I am sure you had a busy week" Amy said, now becoming more aware of the signals coming from him, which she picked up when she had opened the door a few minutes ago.

"I had a talk tonight with Leonard, and he informed me that you were upset about something I did last week, and I haven't been able to enable my REM cycle because of that" Sheldon replied to her, still not capable of looking at her. Instead, he kept his eyes focused on his hands, which were locked together.

"Leonard told you that?" Amy replied startled, as she never had expected that Leonard would have told Sheldon about it. She had known that Leonard would find out about it from Penny, but she was surprised that he had shared it with Sheldon.

"Wh…what exactly did he tell you?" now worried that Penny had told Leonard everything, and that now Sheldon knew too.

"Just that. He said that you were upset, well more than upset, and talked to Penny about it" he said, slowly starting to look up again, but still keeping his eyes away from his girlfriend.

"Why didn't you say something to me about it, I thought we were able to communicate about things that bothered either one of us?" Sheldon asked.

"Don't you think I tried to tell you? I was getting so mad at you that night, when you told me you preferred to keep working and not go out with me" Amy said, turning towards Sheldon.

"But you were so caught up in your equations and scientific calculations, it felt like you ignored me.

So that's why I left at that moment" she continued.

"I…I ignored you? I admit, I was a bit caught up in my work, but I thought we were having a great time together?"

"You were, but I clearly wasn't. I was happy to spend that time with you, but I rather had done something together we both enjoyed." Amy said.

"That's why I asked you to join me to meet Bernadette and Howard for dinner."

"Maybe it wasn't your intention, but when you told me you didn't want to come with me, it made me realize that we are in two very different places in our relationship" Amy said, now noticing Sheldon was looking at her, with a look on his face, that told her he was having a hard time understanding all she said.

"I clearly want our relation to make progress, no matter how slowly, but you seemed to think of me just as one of your friends, not as a girlfriend".

She now started crying, when she heard herself say these words, understanding the underlying message of what she just had told Sheldon.

But just when she had expected that Sheldon would start running for the door, she felt movement right next to her. Before she knew what was happening, Sheldon had his arms around her.

"Amy" he uttered, trying hard to find the words to express what he wanted her to know.

"I now see how you could have thought that my actions were trying to push you away, but I never intended it like that".

"I've always known that I am not like others, and most likely never will be" Sheldon went on.

"Before I met you, I always considered that as a good thing. I never felt the need to engage in social activities with other people, it was just a waste of my time. I was much happier spending that time on my studies. That is one of the reasons I graduated so early, and got my first PHD when I was 16."

"But then I got tricked into going on a date with a random person by Raj and Howard, much to my own resentment" Sheldon now spoke, noticed he had released Amy from his embrace, but much to his own amazement, was holding both of her hands in his, making slow, caressing strokes with his thumbs.

"At first I did like you as a friend, with whom I could talk on a level I have never been able to do before with anyone else. But the notion of romance never came to me "he said, as Amy noticed a burden was slowly starting to lift from him.

"But from the moment I asked you to be my girlfriend, my life has completely changed. I have always heard people say that there is someone out there for everyone, especially my mother kept saying that to me. Someone who could make you want to turn your life around, not caring about what anyone else thought about it."

"So when I heard that you were out with Stuart, it finally hit me, like a tidal wave of all the emotions I had repressed came over me" he went on, not being able to stop himself anymore, but he didn't want to stop himself anyway. It was time it all came out.

"You are the one Amy. Everything I've ever done since that moment, has been about you" Sheldon said, now feeling completely at ease. He finally had said the words he wanted to say to Amy for so long, but never knew how to say them.

And now they had come so easily, he wasn't even thinking about what he wanted to say, he just said them.

Amy was now crying again, but for a completely different reason. Had she really heard him say that she was the one for him? This could not be.

After all she had been through, not just last week, but for several months already, it was all gone from her mind. Those five little words had changed everything.

_You are the one Amy._

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**Thank you all for the amazing feedback on my last two chapters, it has been truelly inspiring. I hope you all enjoyed this one as well.  
**


	7. Chapter 7

_You are the one Amy._

* * *

Amy's tears, which were now flooding down her cheeks, confused Sheldon. Why is she crying now?

He finally had been able to say what had been on his mind for so long, and this made her cry? Had he somehow crossed another line, one he had never seen?

He wanted to ask her what was wrong, but he was starting to doubt his every move, his every thought. Even his own breathing worried him now, afraid it would push Amy even further away from him.

"Amy" he whispered to her. "I am so sorry for what I said just now."

"I never meant it to cause you even more pain then I've already caused you" Sheldon said, with tears starting to well up in the corners of his eyes.

"When I decided to come here tonight, I never thought for one minute I would say those words to you. I just wanted to know what I had done wrong, so that I could attempt to make it up to you" he continued on, still holding on to her hands.

"But now I see it was all a big mistake. Instead of easing your troubles, I only aggravated them."

Amy could not fathom what had happened in her apartment the last five minutes. From the moment those five words, who by themselves were meaningless, left his lips and entered her mind, time just stopped.

She wanted to be in this moment for as long as she could hold on to it.

He does care about me.

No, this isn't caring about someone anymore, this goes much further.

Sheldon Lee Cooper, the man she had come to know as never accepting his feelings for anything, or anyone else then his mother and his Meemaw, had just told her in his own words that he loved her.

But when she saw the tears appearing in his eyes now too, and hearing him speak about how his earlier words had caused her even more pain, she snapped out of her trance immediately.

"Sheldon, you are an amazing man, and you don't even realize it yourself" she spoke, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand.

"I was hurt before you came here, that is true. But all the things you just said to me, has shown me everything I've been looking for in you."

"Why do you think you've caused me more pain, when it clearly lifted my spirit?" she asked, seeing the confusion growing inside Sheldon.

"B…Because you started crying again when I said…well you know…that you are the one for me" Sheldon now spoke softly, trying hard to control the tears that streamed down his face now.

"It confirmed what I've expected for some time now" he went on, slowly shaking uncontrollable now.

"Confirmed? What have you been expecting, and do you now believe to be true?" Amy asked.

"That I don't deserve you" Sheldon stated, releasing her hands now, and using his own to cover his face.

"I can never be the boyfriend you desire, and even more so, deserve" the slightly muffled sounds came from him.

"Sheldon, look at me" Amy said, looking straight at him, no longer hindered by the tears that had finally stopped.

"Where is all of this coming from? Why would you even think something like that?"

"Isn't it obvious Amy?" Sheldon said, after moving both of his hands down in front of him, clutched together.

"It all started when Leonard moved out earlier this year, after we had a fight. Remember that?" he now asked her, but not giving her a chance to answer it.

"When I posed that I needed a new roommate, you used logical facts to move in with me, but I was too much a coward to tell you I wasn't ready for that kind of commitment."

"When I finally saw a change to tell you that you couldn't live there with me, I turned it around so that I managed to blame Penny for it, but you saw right through that" Sheldon continued.

"It was at that very moment that it became clear to me. I needed to change my ways to start becoming the boyfriend you deserved. Before that had happened, I could never conceive that you might leave me one day, that thought never even entered my mind.

"I needed to prove my worthiness to you" he said, now looking straight into her eyes.

"What do you mean you needed to prove anything like that to me? Sheldon, where is all of this really coming from?" Amy asked, not understanding what Sheldon was trying to tell her.

"I will tell you, but it might take a long time to explain myself" he replied to her.

"That's ok Sheldon" Amy said with actual a small hint of a smile on her face.

"It's time you told me what caused you to think that".

* * *

Sheldon had noticed the rhythms of his breaths had increased, enough for him to become aware of it. When he took the bus earlier tonight, he had never expected that the rest of the night would lead to this moment. He was starting to feel uncomfortable, which was a first when he was in the presence of Amy.

She had always had a calming effect on him. But not this time. It really was time he told her what was going on, and had been going inside his mind for all those months.

"When I said that I don't deserve you, I meant that you clearly need and want someone who can reciprocate your feelings, and can provide you with the required attention you deserve" Sheldon started, getting a serious, almost clinical tone of voice.

"But when you stormed out of my apartment on that night, and called me a coward, I understood I wasn't giving those things to you."

"So, when I took a moment to think about everything that happened those few days, and rethinking about all the well thought out points you made why it would make sense for you to move in with me, it was like my subconscious started to become aware of how wrong I treated you all that time" he continued on.

"So I decided then and there things had to change, and I started to make plans about how to improve myself."

Now Amy noticed Sheldon was finally taking a break for talking to catch his breath, she took that chance to intervene him. She was still amazed by his earlier confession, but she could feel her heart almost breaking, when she heard him struggling to explain his actions of the last few months.

"You…you decided to make plans to do that? For me?" Amy stuttered.

"I would never want you to do something that you aren't comfortable with, and I really never would want you to change, just for me."

"We have had our disagreements in the past, but we always got past them. We worked them out, like adults do in a serious relationship" Amy continued.

"It may seem that way to you, or maybe you've been telling yourself that long enough, resulting that you now believe it" Sheldon responded.

"But every sign was there that you weren't happy, and it was time I stopped putting myself ahead of you, of us."

"That's why I made the decision, and I've been working on it ever since" Sheldon said.

Sheldon now noticed that Amy had now started to lean back, resting herself against the couch. She looked so beautiful to him, but also so fragile at this very moment.

He realized he was not the only one having a hard time right now, which caused his protective feeling for her to start surfacing again. It took every ounce of strength he had left inside of himself to keep them from taking him over. When he had taken some more breaths, he spoke again.

"As a result of my efforts, I've been able to come closer to you, not just physical, but I also started to feel emotions that I've never felt before. I started to miss having you around, even if you had just left my apartment" he said.

"I even had a talk with Leonard and Penny about how I felt about you, and she even asked me if I would ever get intimate with you."

"All of these actions lead to the moment you ran to my bedroom, when that D&D game had gotten out of hand, and you asked me the same question" Sheldon continued.

"And while I wasn't ready for the kind of intimacy you were looking for, it felt to me I had made significant progress. I actually started to enjoy us holding hands, and even hugging you grew on me."

"When you told me last week that you needed to spend all of your time on your work, I really was disappointed, because I was so happy that you started working at Cal-tech, so that we could have our lunches together, amongst other things" he said, while he took hold of her hands once more.

"I have always respected your work ethic, it is one of the many things that causes me to feel a certain pride, if that is the correct word for it. I could not believe how lucky I am to have you not only in my live, but as a girlfriend nonetheless."

Amy had not moved much since Sheldon had started talking again, but she had heard every single word that had left his lips. Those thin, beckoning lips. She knew it was now time for her to start taking control of this conversation, because she could not take all this mixed emotions anymore.

"Sheldon?" she said, to get his full attention again.

"I am really appreciative that you tried to change yourself for me, but why didn't you talk to me about all of this? It could have saved us both a lot of pain."

"I didn't want to talk to you about any of this, because I wanted to show you I could be the man you deserve" he replied.

"I wish I could show you how far I've come, on both the emotional and physical sides of this relationship."

At that very moment, Amy stood up.

"You have already shown to me how far you've come emotionally, and now you will show me how far you've come physically."

She now slowly pulled Sheldon to his feet, which he did, albeit somewhat reluctantly because of what Amy just said to him.

When they both were standing in her living room, facing each other, Amy spoke once more.

"This way" she said, while leading him towards her bedroom.

* * *

**Thank you again for reading this story so far, I appreciate all the reviews you all leave.**


	8. Chapter 8

_"This way" she said, while leading him towards her bedroom._

* * *

When Sheldon now looked at Amy, he didn't notice she was caught in the glow of the moonlight. All he could think how absolutely stunning she looked to him, even when she was just standing there in her bathrobe.

All this time he had been holding himself back from becoming physical with her, and at this very moment he could not think why those thoughts had even entered his mind.

He just wanted to be near her, touch her, kiss her and even actually sleeping with Amy had crossed his mind from the moment she lead him to her bedroom.

What had that Vixen done to him?

And now they were standing in front of her bed, with only a few inches between them.

They both just stood there, looking at each other. Words were no longer necessary.

This was all they both ever needed, and they would never need anything else again.

His eyes were caught is Amy's, as were her eyes firmly locked into his. Besides their breathing, which now were completely synchronized, no other sounds could be heard.

It was as if they were the only living beings left in the world.

And that was exactly how he felt at this very moment.

Nothing what had happened up until now mattered to Amy. All the good things that had happened, from their first encounter in the café, Sheldon asking her to be his girlfriend all the way up to the amazing Valentine's Day they had spent together last year.

Same goes for all the moments she had doubted Sheldon's ability to show his affection for her, and as a result the doubts she had about herself in the past.

None of those were standing between them anymore. It was just about them now.

If they had just continued to stand there for the rest of the night, she would have been perfectly happy.

She was simply lost in his blue eyes, which felt as if she was swimming in a calm, tranquil ocean.

Time ceased to exist for Amy, as did everything else around her. Besides Sheldon of course.

The only times she had been this close to him physically, was when she had been given the chance to hug him. Those moments were so rare, she could have counted them on one hand, if she had been capable of using her hands at this very moment.

Suddenly a small movement made Sheldon slowly become aware of his surroundings. Not looking away from Amy, he saw that a small strand of her hair had fallen to the side of her face.

Without thinking, his left hand moved towards her face, and gently placed the strand back where it belonged.

This otherwise insignificant action, now resulted in both of them to react in a way they had no control over.

Sheldon was surprised by how completely natural it had felt to touch Amy like that, it was as if he had done it so many times before. Even if it was just a slight touch, it caused Amy to react with a light shudder, which he had never seen before in anyone.

Amy stood frozen to the ground, all she could focus on was her breathing. She had to keep telling herself to keep breathing, simply to get her brain from collapsing all together.

"Sheldon is touching me" she was finally capable of hearing herself say in the back of her mind.

She closed her eyes to enjoy the moment even more then she already was.

When she opened her eyes again, she noticed that Sheldon was looking at more intensely then she had ever seen him, with a small hint of surprise in his eyes.

"Are you OK?" he asked, after he had moved his hand back to the side of his own body, already missing how it felt to touch her.

Amy knew she had to respond somehow, it took everything she had to mutter a single word, while slowly nodding.

"Yes."

It had come so softly, she started to doubt if she had actually said it out loud, or if she had only thought it.

Luckily for her, Sheldon responded.

"I liked that, it felt natural to do that" he said.

"Oh yes, I liked it very much" Amy now said, with a smile growing on her face.

"I've been waiting for so long for it to happen, I feel I am floating around the room" she continued on.

As soon as she had spoken those words, she immediately noticed that Sheldon was starting to get a look of guilt on his face.

Afraid she had ruined this precious moment by her words just now, she quickly spoke again.

"But it was well worth waiting for, I hope you won't stop there?" she asked with a little teasing tone in her voice.

"I couldn't stop now, even if I wanted to. But I also don't want to stop" Sheldon said, now moving even closer to her.

He slowly bent down towards her, hesitating when their lips were less than an inch apart.

After holding himself there for just one second, he continued on and placed his lips gently on hers.

At first he could feel that Amy was surprised by this sudden action, and felt he thought he felt her move back a little bit. But before he could respond, Amy was now becoming aware of what he had done and started kissing him back.

While the kiss lasted only a few seconds in reality, to them it seemed to last forever.

Even after they both broke away from each other, both of them lingered on in the moment.

Once again they stood there, with the only difference that Sheldon now had moved his hands on her shoulders. Amy in response had wrapped her arms loosely around his waist.

When a few minutes had past like this, during which they never broke eye contact, Sheldon was the first to be able to respond.

"Now I see why others enjoy this so much. I regret that I've been holding back for so long."

He almost had sounded sad, as if he was thinking about all the time they could have been sharing these amazing feelings together, but had missed out on it simply because he had been afraid to admit to his feelings for Amy.

Amy was now slowly coming out of the ecstasy she had felt after the kiss had ended, and knew she had to assure Sheldon.

"Don't worry about that Sheldon. While it would have been nice to have shared this moment earlier on in our relationship, none of that matters anymore" she said, slowly moving her hands on his back, in a comforting way.

"We have now had our first real, passionate kiss together, and we can start making up for all we have missed in our entire lives."

"I know you blame yourself for everything that happened before, but that is all in the past. And while we can't change the past, we can learn from it."

"You're right, as usual" Sheldon said, immediately going in for a second kiss.

This time Amy was not caught off guard, and responded right away to his lips.

Sheldon had now moved his hands upwards, pulling her hair up a little, so one of his hands slowly started caressing the back of her neck.

This caused Amy to react as he had anticipated, but seeing it in front of him was still completely different then reading about it.

Amy deepened the kiss, by pulling Sheldon even closer towards her, so she could put even more force into the kiss.

Sheldon noticed he could no longer control himself anymore, and was starting to feel his legs losing all strength.

He gently finished the kiss, and had to master all of his focus not to go in for more right away.

"Perhaps it would be better if we sat down together?" Amy suggested.

"We both had a long day, and it might be more comfortable for both of us sitting on the bed" she said, admitting she too was having troubles to remain standing.

"Yes, that would be best" Sheldon agreed, and quickly moved towards the side of the bed, and sat down, making a small patting gesture on the bed as to signal Amy to join him there.

After Amy had moved to where Sheldon now was sitting, they both turned a little towards each other.

Amy couldn't help noticing, even in her sleep deprived state that Sheldon's mind was starting to catch up again, she could see it clearly on his face.

"Sheldon, what are you thinking about?" she asked in a soft, gentle voice.

"I…I…I don't want to say, it's embarrassing" he replied.

"Sheldon, look at me" Amy said, when seeing that he was now staring into nothingness, like his mind was a million miles away.

"We've come so far these past few hours, please don't shut me out now."

"I'm not trying to shut you out, it's just something I have a hard time admitting to myself, let alone tell you about it" Sheldon said.

"Tell me, it's probably not nearly as bad as you think it is" Amy now said, taking one of Sheldon's hands.

"Well, I told you that I was trying to improve myself, right? As a result of this, I have been reading up on ways to…wow, this is difficult to say."

"To what? What have you been reading about?" Amy asked.

"I've been trying to get myself familiar with ways to satisfy a woman…sexually" he sighed, getting a reddish blush on both of his cheeks.

Amy couldn't control herself any longer, as soon as she heard Sheldon say these words, a smile appeared on her face. Was that really all there is, she thought to herself?

But as soon as that thought entered her mind, she was reminded that it was Sheldon saying this.

He had never thought about something like this before, and therefor he never had to pursue knowledge about this specific subject.

But now he admitted to her he had been reading up on it, just for her.

It might not have been the way anyone else would have gone about it, but she wasn't dating anyone else.

She was dating Sheldon Cooper, and she couldn't be happier about that than she was right now.

"Well, for what it's worth, you are a very quick study" she said, giving him a playful wink.

"I…I am?" Sheldon stuttered?

"I was so unsure about what I was doing, I didn't know if you like it."

"Well, now you do. I liked it very much" she replied.

"I'm just not sure where to go from here" Sheldon said, with doubt in his voice again.

Amy was so happy about how this night had turned out. Penny had been in this very apartment no so long ago, but now it seemed like that had been a different lifetime.

After her talk with Penny she was so full of doubt about almost everything that was going on in her life.

But now it had turned around completely on her, and she had never seen it coming.

Her body was asking for so much more, but her mind was still able to control its desires.

"Sheldon, please stop worrying about these things" Amy said, slowly lifting his face up with her other hand, so that he was looking at her again.

"As much as I want to be with you, in every single way, I believe that is wiser for both of us to take things slow. That has always worked for us in any other aspect of the relationship, and it will also work in this part of it."

"However, there is one more thing I want to do with you tonight" she said, as she slowly took off her bathrobe, revealing to Sheldon that she was wearing her nightgown underneath it.

Sheldon was now standing up again, a little startled by her last words and action.

What could she possible have in mind?

Then he saw her pull back the covers of her bed.

"What are you doing Amy? What's going on?" Sheldon asked.

"As I said, I want to do one more thing with you tonight, and that is for us to spend a night together in the same bed. I believe we are ready for that, and I think you feel the same way." Amy replied in a gentle tone.

Strangely enough, the tone of her voice did calm Sheldon down, and he couldn't help notice that he once again agreed with her logic.

"Yes, you are right. I think that would be a perfect ending of this night" he said, as he slowly started to undress himself.

"You know, since I didn't plan on staying over, I will have to sleep in my t-shirt and boxer short only. I've never done that before."

"It's ok Sheldon, we can handle it together" Amy replied.

After they had gotten into bed, each on one side of her bed, Amy pulled the covers back up, so both of them were almost fully covered, it reached just below the top of their shoulders.

Now they both slowly turned on their sides, so that they were facing each other once again, close enough to stare into each other's eyes.

And just as they both drifted off to sleep at the same time, the first rays of sunlight started peeking through the windows.

* * *

**So, did that chapter turn out as you had expected? Let me know what you think, always curious to know what you think would have happened.  
**


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you all for kind reviews, it means a lot to me to know you enjoy the story with me.**

* * *

When Leonard awoke that Saturday morning, it was just like any other day. He got out of bed, put on his bathrobe, which he kept near his bed.

After he walked out his bedroom, and past Sheldon's, he saw that Sheldon's door was open wide.

This was nothing unusual, since Sheldon always got up early on Saturday, to watch Doctor Who on BBC America. However he also saw that Sheldon's bedcovers were not neatly folded back, at least not as they usually were.

It amazed him how he noticed such small details, but after knowing Sheldon for such a long time, he had learned to pick up on such little things.

After he had been to the bathroom, he walked towards the living room, expecting Sheldon to be there.

However, he was nowhere to be seen. Where could he be at this hour, if not in their apartment?

Walking towards the kitchen counter, to see if he could discover if Sheldon at least made breakfast, he only found a stone mug standing there, next to an open can of milk.

"What is going on?" he said out loud, not realizing there was no one to answer the question for him.

Looking at the clock, he noticed it was just past 10 a.m. and realized he was starting to worry more and more about his best friend. He was now starting to think back to their conversation last night, when he had filled in Sheldon about everything he had heard from Amy's talk with Penny.

_There is no easy way to say this Sheldon, but the reason why Amy talked to Penny and not you, is because you are the reason she was so devastated. _

Had he done the right thing in telling that to Sheldon? He never liked it when he had to talk to Sheldon about his relationship with Amy, just like Sheldon didn't.

But he cared too much for Sheldon and Amy to let it go, he didn't want either of them to be hurt.

At first he hadn't been too fond of Amy, right after they had first met. After they had met the first few times, he saw how she and Sheldon really were two of a kind, which he had talked about with Sheldon back then.

But when he realized they both really cared for each other, he forced himself to get to know her a bit better. Quickly after that, with the help of Penny, he found out that Amy was in fact just not used to be part of a social group, and was now simply adapting to the new situation in her life.

He had been glad to see that Amy started fitting right in after that, and he also noticed the effect she was having on Sheldon. Whenever she was around him, he seemed calmer, more relaxed. At sometimes he almost didn't recognize him anymore.

He then convinced himself that he had done the right thing in telling Sheldon last night. It had been an uncomfortable moment, but it had been necessary.

He did however regret that he left Sheldon sitting there alone on the couch. Why had he done that?

Sheldon had seemed defeated, withdrawn into himself.

He should have stayed, to try to get him to talk about it. But it was too late for that now.

Sheldon was gone.

He now quickly moved away from the kitchen, making his way towards the front door of his apartment.

After opening it, he almost ran the short distance to Penny's apartment, and knocked.

He knew that Penny would still be sleeping, as she liked to sleep in on the weekends.

"Penny" he said several times, while continuing knocking on her door with regular intervals.

When she finally answered the door, he saw she had just woken up, exactly like he had expected.

"Leonard?" she yawned. "What time is it? It feels like it's the middle of the night."

"I know it's early, it's a little over 10 a.m." he replied.

"But we need to talk, it's about Sheldon and Amy…" he said slowly, giving his girlfriend some time to wake up.

"What…what is going on? Penny asked when slowly the memories of last night came back to her.

"Last night I told Sheldon about the conversation with Amy last week"

"YOU DID WHAT?" she shouted, now fully awake by Leonard's confession.

"Why on earth did you tell him that, you know it would freak him out" Penny went on, throwing several angry looks towards him.

"I had to, things were getting way out of hand between them. I ran into Amy yesterday afternoon and she told me she hadn't spoken all week with Sheldon. And when I drove Sheldon home, he wasn't himself, he seemed very absent" Leonard now told her.

"I don't know what happened between them, but I couldn't stand to see them both like that. It was like something terrible had happened. When I had spoken to Amy, I thought she was simply still mad at Sheldon, but when I saw that Sheldon was also very upset, I realized something more was going on" he continued.

"I…I know what happened" Penny said in soft tone.

"What? What is it then? Leonard asked, now also talking softly, as he noticed Penny was starting to get tears in her eyes.

"I happened."

After that she no longer could fight back the anger she had felt in these few minutes. First she had been angry at Leonard for blabbing to Sheldon, and then she got even angrier at herself, as she realized she had underestimated the situation even more then she had thought.

She had expected that after her talk last night with Amy, everything would simply work out between Amy and Sheldon. Amy had been very upset, but in the end she did seem to listen to her, and she actually had taken her advice.

But now everything was even worse than it had been before. She had never even thought that Sheldon might have been more effected then Amy had realized. Sheldon had never been someone to show his true feelings and emotions as openly as others.

She quickly told Leonard about the plan she had made up for Amy, and noticed much to her surprise that he wasn't angry at all.

"It might not have been what I had suggested to Amy, but you did it because you cared about them. You simply used your own experience, and gave Amy advice based on that" Leonard said after hearing Penny explain it all to him.

"Yeah, great advice" she replied sarcastically.

"But what happened after you told Sheldon last night, you still haven't told me" she tried to get back to why Leonard was actually here at this hour.

"He just sat there, not saying a word" he said.

"And when I woke up this morning, his bed was empty, and he is nowhere else in the apartment either."

"You mean Sheldon is gone? Where do you think he is?"

After some deliberation Leonard answered.

"I can only think of two places he went, actually."

"He either went back to Texas, or…"

"Or what?" Penny asked, not realizing what Leonard was trying to say.

"Or he went over to Amy's apartment" he replied.

* * *

When Amy awoke a few hours later, she was still lying on her side, just as she had been before falling asleep. After opening her eyes, she saw that Sheldon had turned on his back, but he was still extremely close to her. She cautiously moved her face towards his, and gently kissed him.

Even in his sleep, she could feel a small reaction from him, it felt as if he was her kissing back, even now.

Sheldon however did not wake up from it, but this didn't come as a surprise to Amy. She had actually had a few hours of sleep before he had arrived at her apartment last night, but Sheldon hadn't slept before coming here.

Although she was wide awake already, she could not make herself get out of bed. She just had to watch her boyfriend sleep right next to her, with the sun now brightly shining in the room.

He looked so peaceful, especially after the worried looks he had shown her last night from time to time.

After staying there, motionless for an hour more, she finally got out of bed slowly, trying not to disturb Sheldon. He needed his rest she knew, not just physically, but also his mind would need time to rest and subconsciously process everything that had happened.

When she had left the bedroom, and quietly closed the door behind her, she walked into the living room as she noticed they had left the light on when she took Sheldon's hand and lead him to her bedroom.

Turning it off, she also noticed Sheldon's jacket was right where he left it, on the side of the couch they had sat on.

Her mind was telling her that she had to eat something, because normally she would have been up already for a few hours, even on a Saturday.

However, her body was not at all capable of eating something right now, she was still intoxicated from everything that had happened in her bedroom.

She did go to the kitchen, and got herself a glass of cold water, since her mouth was starting to feel a bit dry. When she was moving back towards the couch, she saw a note on the counter.

_Call me tomorrow morning._

She took the glass with her as she sat down in the same spot on the couch as last night, as she saw her phone lying there on the table in front of her.

When she checked her messages, she only had one text message waiting for her to be read.

_Amy, if you read this call me. I want to know if you are all right. _

It was a message from Penny, send not long after she had left her apartment.

She thought about calling her, but what was she going to tell her? The truth?

Amy wanted to share everything that had happened after Penny had left with her best girlfriend. She had never been able to keep anything from her, not even when it was about her relationship with Sheldon.

But this was something completely different, it could not be compared to anything she had ever experienced. What had happened between her and Sheldon last night was extremely intimate for both of them, and Sheldon would not want this to be known to the rest of the group. And after thinking about it, Amy didn't want the rest to know either.

If Penny would find out, she would not be able to keep this to herself.

Still not feeling up for some breakfast, she took a sip of her glass of water, and moved back out of her living room, but she did not go back into the bedroom, even though it was very tempting to crawl back in bed with Sheldon.

She went to the bathroom, and turned on the shower. She could use a fresh start, it didn't feel like just a brand new day, but it felt she was ready to start a new chapter of her life.

When she had gotten undressed completely, and stepped under the hot stream of water that was waiting for her, she could not stop thinking about the first kiss Sheldon had given her last night.

They had kissed before, both those two could not compare at all.

The first one she didn't even remember, and the second one she had given him in complete surprise, even to herself when she had gotten the Tiara from Sheldon.

When she was done showering, she dried herself of, only putting on her bathrobe, and walked back towards her bedroom.

When she entered it, she noted that Sheldon had moved over to her side of the bed, smiling in his sleep.

She stood there for several minutes, just enjoying the scene before her.

After that she picked out cloths to wear, and got dressed.

She quickly threw one last look on Sheldon, and then left the room again.

After she sat down again on her couch, and was about to turn on the TV to watch some news show, she heard a few knocks on the door. Immediately her mind went back to the last time she had heard that sound, but quickly realized it couldn't be him again.

Snapping out of her daydream, she stood up and opened the door.

"Good morning Amy" said Leonard and Penny together.


	10. Chapter 10

"_Good morning Amy" said Leonard and Penny together._

* * *

When she opened the door, and saw both Leonard and Penny standing there, she was starting to panic.

Just before she had gotten into the shower, she had read Penny's note on her kitchen counter, and shortly after that also the text message she had send.

At that moment she had decided that it would be best to keep everything that had happened last night a secret from both of her friends. That way she would not have to endure a lot of questions about it, and having to share every little detail with Penny and Bernadette. It would also prevent Sheldon from having to endure plenty of jokes about it, most likely from Howard.

But the most important reason why she had chosen not to tell anyone about it, is because it would give her and Sheldon a chance to continue the exploration of this part of the relationship, which of course was new to both of them.

However, now that plan was no longer possible. How could she stop both Penny and Leonard from finding out that Sheldon had spent the night in her apartment, which of course would lead to eventually all other events that had happened?

If it had only had been Leonard who was standing at the front door of her apartment, she might have been able to convince him to keep it a secret, even from Penny. But since her best friend was also here, telling the truth was not going to result in keeping this a secret for long.

Then, out of nowhere, an idea appeared in her head. It was going to be tricky, and it would require some lying from both her and Sheldon.

Amy herself had never been able to tell a lie good enough to get away with it, and Sheldon was probably even worse at it. This plan was most likely to fail right away, but she had to give it a shot.

There was simply too much at stake.

But for now she shouldn't worry about how Sheldon would react, she first had to successfully set the plan in motion. If it failed within the next few minutes, she wouldn't have to worry about her boyfriend's abilities to keep the rest of their social group from finding out.

Both Leonard and Penny had only been in the living room of her apartment, they had never seen the rest of the apartment as of yet. This was hopefully going to work to her advantage.

Penny had spent the night here a few years ago, when she had been upset after sleeping with Raj, and although she had initially planned on sleeping in the trundle bed, eventually she had decided to sleep on the couch instead.

* * *

"Hello" Amy said, forcing a smile on her face.

"What are you two doing here?"

"We are looking for Sheldon. We haven't seen him since last night" Leonard said, still standing outside Amy's apartment.

"Don't worry, Sheldon is here. But you have to be quiet, he's still asleep" Amy said, seeing the relief and amazement appearing on both of Penny's and Leonard's face.

"Wait, what?" Penny said loudly, immediately realizing she failed Amy's request.

"He slept here? In your apartment?" she continued on, now speaking softer.

"No, he is still sleeping here. So you can't stay to long, but at least you two don't have to worry about him" Amy said.

"But come on in for a minute" she continued, stepping aside, so both of them could enter her apartment.

After Penny and Leonard had walked inside, Amy closed the door without making any sound, as she did not want to wake Sheldon up.

"Do you two want anything to drink?" Amy asked.

"I could use some coffee" Penny said.

"Yeah, I would like some as well" Leonard told her.

When Amy had gone to the kitchen, to start working on the drinks, Penny and Leonard gave each other a look they both understood without saying a word. They both wondered what was going on.

They weren't really surprised that Sheldon had come here, but why would he spent the night here?

He had never done that before, and soon they both started wondering what had happened here last night, after Penny had left.

When Amy had finished both cups of coffee, she walked back to the couch where her two friends were sitting next to each other.

She placed both cups in front of them, and then she sat down on the free chair, grabbing her own glass of water, which she had poured for herself before Penny and Leonard had arrived.

After a few minutes of silence between the three of them, during which they had only been drinking the beverages before them, Penny could no longer keep her questions from escaping her mouth.

"When did Sheldon get here, I didn't run into him when I left?" she asked.

"He arrived a few hours after you left, so it's not that strange that you missed running into him" Amy answered honestly.

"I actually was already asleep at that time, after I had taken that bath you recommended to me. Thank you for that suggestion by the way, it really helped to calm me down."

"You're welcome" was all Penny could say in response, still having lots of questions looking for an answer.

"So what happened after he arrived, tell us everything Amy" Penny went on.

"Penny!" this time it was Leonard that spoke up, looking directly at his girlfriend.

"Stop being so curious. Can't you just let Amy tell us what happened" he said.

"And if you don't want to tell us what happened last night Amy, that's all right too."

"We don't need to know everything that happened between you" Leonard said, afraid he was about to find out every little detail from Amy.

"Maybe you don't, but I sure as hell want to know!" Penny replied, starting to talk louder again.

"Shhh, please lower your voice" Amy asked once again.

"Sorry Amy, I know I am being too curious about you two. I just want to know that both of you are all right?" Penny responded, speaking softly once more.

"We are all right" Amy said.

"After he showed up last night, we had a long talk about everything that happened between us."

"Not just what happened the last week, we also talked about something that had been bothering Sheldon for a long time about our relationship" she continued on.

Penny and Leonard were now looking at each other, trying to figure out if the other one knew what Amy was referring too.

After a few seconds it became clear to both them that neither knew what Amy had mend by that.

"What do you mean by that Amy?" Leonard now asked, as he too wanted to know what this was all about.

"Sheldon was bothered by something? What was it?"

This time Penny stepped in, not because she didn't want to know the answer, but because she was getting a little angry with Leonard.

"Look who is being too curious now" she said.

"I am sorry Penny, I shouldn't have said that to you, I know you mean well" Leonard replied.

Both Leonard and Penny were now looking at Amy, still waiting for her to answer Leonard's question.

"Well, I am not going to tell you both any details, but let's just say it explained his behavior over the last few months to me. And that is all that matters now."

"Sheldon and I talked things out. It was emotional for both of us, and Sheldon had a hard time finding the right words to express himself. But he did eventually" Amy said, hoping this would satisfy both of her friends.

"Glad to hear that Amy. I was worried when I noticed Sheldon wasn't at home this morning, but I am happy to hear that you two talked things out" Leonard said, after hearing Amy's confession.

"Let's go Penny" he said, already standing up from the couch.

"Go? I am not done asking Amy about the rest of the night" she said.

"Why did Sheldon sleep here, why didn't he go home after you finished talking?"

"Or he could have at least let Leonard know he wasn't going to be home this morning" Penny went on, ignoring Leonard.

Amy was now starting to get worried. Everything was going so well up until this moment.

But now came the most important part, she had to explain why Sheldon was still here, sleeping not far from where they all were sitting.

She was forcing herself to calm down, taking a few long breaths, but not so long that they could arouse suspicion from Leonard, but especially Penny.

After taking a sip of her water, she began the most important part of the cover story, it all came down to this.

"When we had talked about everything that happened between us, and what had bothered both Sheldon and myself, it was already very late" Amy said.

"We both were still very emotional, I was in no state to drive him home. And there were no longer any buses running anymore, so he had to sleep here."

"Not that I would have let him take a bus home anyway, he too was far too distracted to do that safely" Amy continued.

"He is sleeping in the guestroom right now. I checked on him right before you two got here, and he was still sleeping" she said.

"As I said, I had already slept for a few hours, so I was already up when you two got here, just not for very long. It had been a long day for me too."

She was very proud of herself when she had heard her tell this story. She had not hesitated once, and to her it sounded very honest, knowing full well that it was only partly true.

Now she could only wait how Penny would react, she was no longer worried about Leonard's response, since he already told both of them he wanted to leave.

She noticed Penny was staring at nothing in particular, as if she was trying to process all the information she had received just now. And that was exactly what she was doing at this very moment.

"Guess it makes sense" Penny finally said, after a few more seconds of silence.

"I still am so sorry for everything that happened between you two last week. I have been such a terrible friend, especially to you Amy" she said.

"Will you please stop apologizing for that already? We talked about it, and I have already forgiven you." Amy responded, seeing that her best friend was struggling with her emotions.

"I know it didn't work as intended in the first place, but in the end it worked."

"Sheldon and I are closer now then we have ever been, and that is for some part thanks to both of you. The road has been a bumpy one, but it got us where we are now" Amy went on.

"Th…thank you Amy, you are truly an amazing person, I am glad you are part of my life" Penny responded, slowly sobbing while holding on to Leonard for support.

"We'll leave now, so you and Sheldon can have the rest of the day to yourself" she said.

"I appreciate your concern for Sheldon, you two mean more to him then he probably ever is capable of telling you" Amy responded, now also feeling the tears start to well up again in her eyes.

But just as both Penny and Leonard reached for the door, a fourth voice was filling the room.

"Good morning everyone, what are you doing here?"

When Penny, Leonard and Amy turned to the source of the voice, they saw him standing there.

Sheldon was up, still only wearing his shirt and boxers.


	11. Chapter 11

Sheldon had slept extremely well, just like he always did in his own bed. This should have surprised him, but it didn't. He didn't have to think long about why that was.

Amy. Every single good that had happened to him the last 4 years had been because of her.

When he had entered the bed last night, he was still shaken up from everything that had happened that night.

From the long conversation he had with Amy, which had led to his confession about learning to please a woman. He still couldn't believe he actually told Amy about that, but he was happy that he did.

It had lifted an enormous pressure of him, he felt relieved after such a long time carrying this secret with him.

He had expected himself to dream when he was in bed with Amy, but both of them stayed awake some time, just looking into the others eyes.

When he drifted off, he didn't dream at all, or at least he could not remember any of them.

Not that it mattered much, because he could still remember everything from last night.

From the first touch, while placing the strand of hair back, to both kisses they had shared.

How wrong he had been about it all, but he was glad that Amy comforted him about them missing out on these moments for so long. She had been right about the fact that they now could start making up for all the times they wasted, circling around it.

He could not believe he was thinking like this, where had the Sheldon gone that didn't need and believed in the concept of romantic relationships, and all forms of intimacy that apparently came along with that.

That Sheldon doesn't exist anymore.

When he had woken up, it took him several minutes to realize where he was. As his eyes slowly started to open more and more, and shapes became much clearer, he remembered all of it at once.

He did not only spent the night in Amy's apartment, they had actually slept together in the same bed.

How had that happened again? Had she tricked him into it somehow?

No she hadn't, he had to admit to himself. She had told him what she wanted to do as a final thing that night, and he couldn't refute her logic.

Now that he was starting to be able to think things over, he suddenly became aware of several things. First of all, where was Amy?

He remembered the last thing he saw before falling asleep, were those gentle, brown eyes staring back at him. At that time he felt completely at peace, he could have remained that way forever, if sleep had not taken him over.

The other thing he noticed, that he was now in the exact spot where Amy had slept. Normally he woke up on almost the same spot as where he had fallen asleep.

But now for some reason he had moved over to her side of the bed. When had that happened? Was it after Amy had left, of had he moved over when she still shared the bed with him?

These thoughts left him confused, wondering what might have happened when he had been sleeping?

After spending some time just lying there, slowly taking deep breaths, something familiar, soothing came over him.

It was the scent of vanilla he noticed, which reminded him of Amy again. When he had kissed her last night, it had taken hold of him before, and later on when they had been lying face to face once more.

He wanted to get up and look for her, but another part of him just wanted to stay here, enjoying all the sensations flooding over him.

After about half an hour, in which he dosed of again for a little bit, he knew it was time to get up.

He had no idea what time it was, and he didn't actually care. He just wanted to see Amy again, he was now starting to miss her near him.

When he slowly tossed his legs over the edge of the bed, and let his toes touch the floor of Amy's bedroom, he sat up straight, taken this time to stretch himself out, letting out a soft yawn.

Then he stood up, a little unstable at first, but only for a few seconds.

Now he slowly moved towards the bedroom door, which still was closed. Amy must have closed it behind her when she had left the room, to let him get his rest.

He would never been able to thank her enough for that, but he would surely give it a try later on.

With his hand now on the doorknob, he slowly used it to open it, and stepped outside in the hallway that led to her bathroom straight on, and to the living room at the left.

But when he did, he had expected there to be silence, or maybe the sound of the television.

However, he heard Amy talking to someone, and the voices sounded very familiar.

Curious as to what was going on, he forced himself towards the living room.

Looking around the room, he first saw Amy, standing with her back towards him. Then he saw Leonard and Penny also standing there, near the front door of Amy's apartment.

Although he was surprised to see both of his friends here, he could only say one thing.

"_Good morning everyone, what are you doing here?"_

* * *

When Amy heard his voice coming from behind her, she was overcome with mixed feelings.

She had been so happy that both Penny and Leonard had fallen for her story, everything was going to work out as intended.

They had talked about it, she explained it all without waking up Sheldon. Or so she had thought.

But now he was standing there, and had already greeted all three of them. If only he had woken up a few minutes later, both Leonard and Penny would have been gone from her apartment.

This left her in a state of panic, feeling everything crumble around her. Not just the plan she had set in motion, she also feared what Sheldon was going to say to his two friends, who were still standing at the door.

Would he actually tell the truth? Or would he try to cover it up with some made up story, just like she had done?

"Good morning Sheldon" Leonard spoke as the first one.

"Glad to see you are all right, we were very worried about you, after I noticed you weren't in our apartment this morning."

"Yeah, sorry about that" Sheldon responded.

"I should have left a note for you, but I simply didn't think about it."

"I just knew I had to talk to Amy, after everything you told me last night" he continued on.

"Yes, I should have been more tactful in telling you that" his roommate responded.

"I don't regret telling you, but I shouldn't have left you alone after that. I just thought you needed some time to process it all"

"I hope you can forgive me?" he asked Sheldon.

"There is nothing to forgive, Leonard. I realize now that you only had my, and Amy's best interest at heart."

"I needed to hear that" he said.

"I admit, I was angry at you at first, when you told me that you had been keeping information about my relationship with Amy to yourself."

"But after I talked things over with Amy, I realized I should be grateful you stepped in, and set me straight" he said to Leonard.

Sheldon had now reached the center of the living room, and was standing at the back of the couch, just a few feet from Amy.

"And I need to thank you too Penny" Sheldon said.

"Me?" she responded with a surprised look on her face.

"Yes, you. I know that Amy talked to you about what happened between me and Amy" Sheldon now said, looking straight at Penny.

"I am very grateful that you are such a good friend for both me and Amy, you always are there for us, whenever something is troubling us."

Penny had never seen this side of Sheldon before. She knew he respected her, and over the years they had known each other, they had become close friends.

But Sheldon had never told her something like he just did, he never opened up on his own about his feelings. Until now.

She was now crying uncontrollable, after Amy's kind words just a few minutes ago, this was the final drop. Leonard was still standing next to her, his arm wrapped around her shoulders, trying to comfort her.

"Sheldon, I…I don't know what to say, except that I don't deserve your thanks" she spoke after pulling herself back together.

"I haven't always been the friend to you that you think I am. Especially this last week…" Penny continued on.

However, at that point Sheldon interrupted her.

"I don't need to know what you are about to say, Penny."

"It doesn't matter anymore" he said.

"Whatever you think you did, or didn't do, I probably deserved it."

"And look at us now, we are standing here all four together, and you should know that Amy and I had a long talk last night, and I actually was capable of telling her about everything that has been bothering me for a long time. " Sheldon went on.

"And Amy has told me about how she felt about my behavior, which had gotten her upset" he said, now looking at his girlfriend, who simply smiled at him, overcome with joy about his words.

Penny could no longer control herself. She let go of Leonard, and dashed across the living room.

Throwing her arms around Sheldon's chest, she could not speak, not a single word could make it past her lips. Sheldon instinctively closed his arms around her, and also showed some tears in his eyes.

Leonard and Amy stood there, looking first at the scene between Sheldon and Penny, and then looking at each other. They both were amazed at this sign of affection between them, neither one had ever knew they were this close.

This moment went on for what felt forever to Penny, completely unaware of where she was.

Only after Sheldon slowly released her from his grip, she pulled herself away.

She immediately noticed the stains from her tears on his shirt, but she was too happy to apologize for them.

"Come on Penny, now let's really get out of here." Leonard finally spoke, having closed the gap between them.

Taking Penny gently by her arm, he walked her towards the door.

"Sheldon, will you be coming home later today?" he asked, after already having opened the front door.

"Yes, I guess I will be. I don't know when exactly, but I think I will be home in time for some dinner" Sheldon responded.

"That's good to hear, looking forward to see you back home, it's not the same without you" Leonard said, much to his own amazement, pulling Amy's front door closed behind them.

* * *

Now that they were alone again in the apartment, Amy knew it was time to fill Sheldon in about what she had thought of to keep their intimate moments of last night a secret.

When she had turned away from the door, she saw Sheldon standing right in front of her. She hadn't heard him get this close to her, and was even more surprised by the playful grin on his face.

Before she could even say a word, Sheldon had already lifted her face slightly upwards with his right hand, and kissed her passionately.

While she hadn't seen this move coming, her lips immediately responded to Sheldon's. It felt to her that after last night her lips knew what to do, even if she didn't.

When Sheldon finally pulled away, she couldn't move a single muscle in her body. All she could do was stand there, eyes closed while she still lingered in ecstasy.

"I missed you when I woke up" Sheldon said, giving a small wink to Amy, who now had opened her eyes again, but still stood there if she was in a world of her own.

"That…that was amazing Sheldon, a girl could get used to that" she responded, returning the wink to him.

"Good to hear you still like it, because I couldn't live without them anymore" Sheldon said.

After they sat down together on the couch, Amy told Sheldon everything that had went on between her, Penny and Leonard before he appeared in the living room.

Sheldon was pleasantly surprised to hear that Amy had pulled this scheme off, since he agreed to her logic about keeping this hidden from their friends for the time being.

They both decided to have some breakfast together, which also counted as lunch seeing it was almost noon already.

Sheldon took a quick shower when they both had finished a long, delightful meal together, during which they didn't talk a lot, they just stared into each other's eyes, remembering the final moments before they had fallen asleep last night.

He felt rejuvenated, although he did have to wear the same clothes he had on when he got to Amy's apartment last night.

Both Amy and Sheldon agreed it was best if Sheldon went home, otherwise Leonard, but especially Penny would get curious again.

When they said goodbye to each other it was Amy this time that pulled Sheldon in for a kiss.

Sheldon said he would call her later tonight, after they both had some time on their own.

The bus that took Sheldon home was surprisingly empty during the entire ride back to Pasadena, which Sheldon appreciated.

When he walked towards the building his apartment was located in, he was only now starting to realize what a beautiful day it was. The sun was beaming brightly, and when he listened closely, he could even hear a few birds sing their song.

When he reached the floor of apartment 4a, he stood in the hallway, thinking for a second.

Then he reached inside to grab the key, but not to his apartment, but unlocked the door to Penny's.

He was happy to see that both Penny and Leonard were there, sitting close together on the couch.

"Hi Sheldon, glad to see you back" Leonard said, looking at his best friend.

"Hello to both of you. It's good to be back home" Sheldon responded, giving of a look of insecurity.

Penny noticed it before Leonard did, starting to worry again.

"You ok, Sheldon? You look not so good" She asked.

"I have a request for both of you, regarding Amy" Sheldon replied, sitting himself down in his favorite chair in her apartment.


	12. Chapter 12

When he had entered apartment 4b, he had been happy. A little nervous perhaps, but happy nonetheless.

During the ride back to his apartment in Pasadena, he had some time to think about what Amy had told him, about keeping the fact that they had kissed hidden from everyone.

While he had agreed to it, and still believed it to be the right thing to do, he now started to doubt his ability to keep the truth from both Leonard and Penny.

Amy had been so confident about it all, from the short time he had been there in the living room.

He now must try to be as confident, self-assured too. Not just for his or even Amy's sake, but for theirs as well.

Amy never failed to explain anything to him, she always used logic when she tried to make him see something her way, and as frustrating it could be from time to time, she always succeeded.

Earlier on in their relationship, this got him upset, how could he be bested by a Neurobiologist from Glendale. But now he was feeling nothing but pride about it all, just like he had done when she had bested his friends from time to time in exactly the same way.

So now came the true test for him. He had thought of something when he was sitting in the back of the bus, thinking about all that had happened the last 24 hours. His mind tried to continue on processing everything, but his thoughts kept drifting off to the moments he and Amy had kissed. Each one had been so amazing to him, even the last short one before he left her apartment made his stomach do backflips.

"_I have a request for both of you, regarding Amy"_

"A request? What kind of request?" Leonard asked, while Penny was still trying to figure out the signals Sheldon was sending them.

"Hold on, Leonard. I have a few questions for him first" she interrupted her boyfriend.

"Of course you do" Leonard sighed, shaking his head from side to side.

"Oh, don't give me that. You know me, I have to know what happened between him and Amy" Penny responded, now looking at Leonard.

"You already know what happened, Amy told us everything only a few hours ago, don't tell me you've already forgotten it?" he said.

"No I haven't forgotten any of it, I just want to hear Sheldon's side. It was an important night for both of them, and I just want to know as much as possible about it."

Sheldon stood there, watching, studying his best friends. He couldn't help himself, and started to smile.

This was noticed by Penny, getting angry at this whole situation.

"What's so funny Sheldon? Did I use a word wrong again or something?" she almost hissed at him.

"No, actually you didn't. I just see think it's amusing that you think I'll tell you anymore then Amy already did" he responded calmly.

"What happened between Amy and me is exactly that, it's something that only Amy and I will ever know about."

"And I ask you to respect both our wishes regarding that" Sheldon continued.

"But I just want to know how you feel about everything now?" Penny asked, showing a look of desperation on her face.

"Everything? That's a vague term" Sheldon said.

"You know full well what I meant, tell me about how you feel about you and Amy now"

"Not that it's any of your business, but Amy and I are just as we always were" he responded.

"Like Amy probably told you, we talked things out, and we now can start moving on with our relationship."

"Which brings me back to my original reason for being here, I want to ask you both something"

"What is it Sheldon? You said it had something to do with Amy" Leonard now asked again, hoping he wouldn't be cut off again by Penny.

"I was hoping I could persuade both of you to spend your evening and night tomorrow here, or at least not in our apartment" Sheldon responded, looking at his roommate.

"Why's that?" Penny asked, in a sincere tone.

"Well, I've had some time to think things over while sitting in the bus back to Pasadena, and I decided to start a next phase in my relationship with Amy" he said.

"I plan on organizing a romantic evening for just the two of us, and that will be a lot easier if neither of you are there."

"Sheldon wants to organize a romantic evening?" Penny asked out loud, as if neither Sheldon nor Leonard were sitting a few feet from her.

"Sheldon, I am happy to honor your request, but I have to ask, where is this coming from?" Leonard said.

"Is this because of what has happened between you and Amy last night?"

"Obviously it has something to do with that, but it's been something I've been thinking about for some time now. You could say that all that has happened this last week, resulting in the events of last night, was the final push I needed to take this next step."

"Well then, I am more than willing to oblige Sheldon, it's sweet to see you moving on, and I am sure that Amy will appreciate the gesture" Leonard said, smiling at his friend.

"Ah yes, that is another thing I need to ask you" Sheldon replied.

"I prefer to keep my intentions hidden from Amy, so I would like it if you both didn't tell Amy about it" he said, looking straight at Penny now.

"Why are you looking at me like that, like I ever spill things like this" Penny said, while throwing Sheldon an angry look.

"Do I really need to answer that? I think you know why."

"Fine! I won't tell Amy anything. But if you aren't going to tell her anything, how are you going to invite over?" she asked.

"I will of course invite her for a nice evening of dining together, but I won't tell her too much about the rest of the evening" Sheldon said.

"And neither will I tell you about it" he immediately said, preventing Penny from asking for more details about his plans.

"So, can I count on you both?"

"Yes, you can Sheldon" Leonard spoke happily.

"Fine" Penny agreed, still showing signs of anger in her expressions.

"Thank you both. I really do appreciate your support in this matter" Sheldon said, standing up from the couch, and moving towards the door.

"See you two later, Thai food okay for both of you? Let's say around seven tonight?"

"Sure Sheldon, we'll be there" Leonard replied.

"All right, enjoy the rest of the afternoon" Sheldon said, followed by him walking out the door and closing it behind him.

* * *

When Sheldon had left her apartment, Amy was finally starting to feel relieved.

She couldn't believe they both had gotten away with it, even though it had not been easy, especially Penny had been very hard to stop.

She was glad that Leonard had been there, since his presence and his attitude seemed to reign Penny in enough to make her story plausible.

After she had cleaned up the dishes from when she had breakfast with Sheldon, she just sat down on her couch, and started to think things over.

This was the first time since last night she had been alone in the apartment, and now her mind could start processing the events that happened from the moment Sheldon had appeared at her door.

Sheldon had shown up in the middle of the night, they had talked about all that had stood between them without realizing it. He had also told her she was the one for him, and of course, the kisses.

Only thinking about that first kiss made her relive those few seconds in her mind again and again.

Sheldon had kissed her. She had never seen it coming at that moment, especially after what they both had gone through that night.

But he had kissed her, and it had been better then she could ever had imagined it.

And when she had thought about that it would have been the highlight of their time together, Sheldon had actually agreed to sleep in the same bed as her. That moment when they been there together, staring into each other's eyes, had been divine.

And after when she had woken up, showered and checked on Sheldon, she had seen him now lying on her side of the bed. This had made her smile, to see him comfortable enough to move over to her side, even in his sleep.

When Penny and Leonard had finally accepted her story of events, and they all noticed Sheldon was standing there, she had to focus to keep it all together.

But he had been amazing all the time his best friends had been there, he easily steered the conversation around the subjects he didn't want to talk about.

Even when Penny had thrown her arms around him, he responded perfectly.

Even though he hadn't left her apartment all that long ago, she already started to miss him.

It was like finally all the pieces of the puzzle that was her life were now starting to fall in place.

And Sheldon was a big part of that puzzle now. He had always been from the moment she had met him, but it was as if she never knew where that specific part fitted.

But now she did know. His piece was the heart of the puzzle.

She remembered Sheldon had agreed to call her later tonight, but waiting for it was going to drive her insane. She needed something to distract her, and fast.

After turning on the television, and flipping through all her usual channels, nothing seemed to catch her attention.

Eventually she just turned it off again, knowing that nothing was going to keep her from thinking about her boyfriend, only a few miles from her. The distance however felt like light-years now, considering how close they had been after they had entered her bedroom.

At that moment she decided she needed to get out of the apartment, a bit of fresh air would do wonders to her hopefully.

* * *

Later that day, Sheldon had ordered the Thai food, and when it was delivered he paid for it and closed the door.

Not long after that same door opened once again, and he saw Penny coming in, with Leonard following right behind her.

"Foods here?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"Of course it is, we agreed to enjoy our dinner together at seven, and since it's now 2 minutes past seven…" Sheldon replied.

"Yeah, yeah I know" Penny sighed, sitting down and started opening up the food containers.

After they had finished off most of the food, Leonard took out the leftovers and cleared out the table.

"So Sheldon" Penny said.

"Need any help with whatever you have planned tomorrow night?"

Sheldon looked surprised at her. Had he not only a few hours ago told her he was going to keep it hidden, especially from her?

"You might hear about it afterwards, if Amy decides to tell you. None of you will hear about it from me" Sheldon said, sounding very confident.

"But I doubt she will tell you."

Realizing she wasn't going to get anything out of him, she decided it was time to head back towards her apartment. If she had stayed here, she would have kept trying to persuade Sheldon to tell her what he had planned for tomorrow.

Leonard stayed for a few minutes longer, gathering some things from his apartment.

"I am going to sleep at Penny's tonight, and since I will do so again tomorrow, I'll just grab a few things and be on my way" he said.

"Thank you Leonard, you really are a good friend" Sheldon responded with a hint of a smile on his face.

* * *

When Leonard had left for the night, Sheldon locked up the door and checked the time.

Seeing it was almost 8 in the evening, he decided it was time to call Amy.

When Amy answered the Skype call, both of their faces lighted up.

"Good evening Sheldon, hope you had a pleasant day?"

"Yes, thank you for asking. I hope you did too?"

"Yes, I took a long walk to clear my head, my mind was very distracted" Amy said.

"I too have noticed my mind wondered off from time to time today" he replied, giving her a coy smile, which made her blush a little.

"I would like to invite you to my apartment tomorrow evening, I thought it would be nice if we could have dinner together?"

"Will any of the others be joining us?" Amy asked, surprised by his request.

"No, it will be just the two of us" Sheldon said.

"I would love to, sounds like a date" she now replied, giving him a little wink.

"That's not an accident, it is a date."

"I do have one additional request to make though" Sheldon continued on.

"What's that?" Amy asked, waiting eagerly to hear what her boyfriend had on his mind.

"That you bring over some items you might need if you are going to spend the night here" he said.


	13. Chapter 13

"You...you want me to spend the night at your place?" Amy asked hesitating as if she misunderstood his request.

"Yes I would, but I don't mean it has to happen tomorrow night. I just think it would be a good idea that you keep some of your personal items over here. You know, just in case" Sheldon replied calmly.

Amy didn't know how to respond to this situation. When they had agreed that Sheldon would call her this evening, she merely expected it to be about how the rest of the day had been for both of them.

When he asked her to join him for dinner tomorrow night, she was delighted.

She liked this side of Sheldon, taking charge, like he also had done last night from time to time.

But now he actually asked her to bring over some of her personal items, just in case she would spend the night there?

"Have you thought about this Sheldon? I don't want our relationship to progress faster than you are comfortable with."

"Yes I have thought about, and I am comfortable with this path our relationship has taken" he admitted.

"Last night, when we talked about our problems, I at first was terrified. I was afraid that it was over between us, that I had ruined everything we had" Sheldon continued on.

"But when you sat there, and listened to me, I realized that what we have is something special, no special doesn't even cover it. It's something beyond words, and can't be explained rationally."

"Same thing happened when we were in your bedroom. When I kissed you the first time, I felt we connected on a level I never knew could exist between two people. Everything was falling into place, nothing else mattered to me except us, Amy" Sheldon said.

"Everything else that happened since then, leading up to the moment we slept in the same bed, only proved this even more to me."

"So, I would like us to continue down this road together, if you are willing?" he asked.

"Of course I am willing, on one condition though" Amy replied, having trouble to contain her excitement.

"What's that?" Sheldon asked.

"That if either of us feels we are reaching a point where things feel like they are spiraling out of control, we speak up" Amy said, looking straight at Sheldon's face at her computer screen.

"Of course I will, and I hope you will do too. I don't want either of us, especially you to have to go through all the hardship again you experienced over the last few months" he responded with a sad look on his face, remembering how Amy had told him last night what she went through emotionally.

"Then we won't let that happen, if we continue talking about these sorts of things, it will not happen again" Amy said in a comforting way, seeing Sheldon needed to hear that.

"Thank you Amy, you always are the voice of reason to me. You have no idea how important you are to me" he said, in a quiet but calm tone.

"I think after last night it's perfectly clear how important we both are in each other's life" Amy responded, smiling back at him.

"So, what time do you want me to be there tomorrow?" she now asked.

"If you could be here at 7:30 that would be perfect" Sheldon responded with signs of relief on his face.

"7:30 it is"

"Good night Dr. Fowler" Sheldon said, showing a little smile.

"Good night Dr. Cooper" Amy responded in a flirtatious way, which wasn't lost on Sheldon.

* * *

Sheldon was extremely content with how this all turned out. After both Leonard and Penny had agreed to stay out of the apartment tomorrow night, he felt he was starting to take control of his life again.

While he ended up enjoying the time he spent at Amy's apartment in the end, it was good to return to this part of himself again.

He had seen how Leonard and Penny's relationship had gone up and down, and saw so many changes in both of them since then. And those changes had come so fast, sometimes it was as if they were two completely different people.

He realized that things would be different for him and Amy, since they were nothing like Leonard and Penny, especially when it came to relationships.

Neither of them had been in a romantic relationship before, although the reasons for that were somewhat different.

Amy had always craved attention from other people, but due to her own quirks and most of all an overprotective mother, she never really found someone to connect with.

When she started working on her PhD, she simply told herself that romantic love wasn't meant for her, and she focused fully on her scientific career.

While this resulted in finishing her study earlier than most people would, she could always feel her subconscious telling her she was missing out on something.

She had simply learned to ignore that little voice inside of her.

Sheldon on the other hand, he never had any interest in the social aspects of life. Even though his mother did force him to spend time with others, he always found a way to single himself out.

At those times he was the happiest, and Mary had to except that eventually, even though it made her sad to see her little Shelly spend all those hours on his own, when his brother and sister hadn't any problems socializing.

The only times when he accepted the fact he needed to be around other human beings, was only when he needed them for some reason.

That was why he gotten a roommate, not because he wanted to the companionship, it was only because he couldn't afford the rent on his own when he started working at the University.

He had never really gotten along with any of the previous people who shared the apartment with him, not until Leonard showed up. And even that had taken some time.

But slowly he started to open up a little, especially when Leonard started dating Penny. He learned to tolerate her presence in their apartment, but still he tried to keep to himself for as much as possible.

This all changed the moment he met Amy. He never expected to meet anyone interesting, when Raj and Howard had set him up to meet her.

How wrong could he have been? After that first meeting in the café, he actually enjoyed spending time with her, even if it was only through text messaging, and the occasional short Skype session.

And now, more than 3 years later, he was planning a romantic evening. He couldn't help and smile, thinking back to the man he had been before.

The rest of the evening, he simply spent watching one of his favorite lectures, afterwards he did his bathroom routine, and finally put on his Saturday Pajama and turned in.

He realized he hadn't done his usual Saturday night laundry, but he would have plenty of time for that tomorrow.

It took him a little longer to fall asleep, but eventually he drifted off, dreaming about Amy.

* * *

Amy was having a hard time concentrating on anything after she had finished the Skype call with Sheldon. She was both very surprised and excited about his second request.

Was Sheldon really coming around on the whole physical intimacy thing? After all those years waiting for it, she couldn't believe it.

But then she reminded herself about the events of last night, Sheldon had really shown he had gotten past his fears on that subject.

Usually when she was this nervous about anything, she would call on Penny to help her through it.

But since they had agreed to keep the details of their relationship to themselves, she couldn't talk to Penny about tomorrows date.

But if she couldn't talk to Penny about it, she sure could share this news with Bernadette.

She just had to make sure that Howard wasn't going to be there, since he might suspect something was wrong between her and Sheldon again.

After a couple of times hearing the phone ring, Bernadette answered.

"Hey Amy, how are you?" her small, blond friend asked?

"Hello Bernadette, I'm fine. I hope you are too?" Amy responded.

"Yes, everything's fine here, it's been a few days since we've seen you." Bernadette said.

"I was actually wondering what happened after last time I saw you, I heard you talked to Penny about your situation with Sheldon?" she asked.

"Yeah, Penny and I had a long talk the next day" Amy replied.

"She gave me some advice that didn't really turn out so great for both me and Sheldon, but eventually we talked things out last night."

"That's good to hear, you seemed very upset that evening" Bernadette responded.

"So, what's going on, is there something you need?" she asked, still questioning why Amy had called her, and not Penny.

"Actually yes there is, I really could use a girl talk" Amy confided, her insecurity clearly noticeable in her voice.

"I am always up for that, we can get together tomorrow morning around 11 if that's ok with you?"

"Howard will be out with Raj, so I will invite Penny over, and then we can talk" Bernadette said, getting a little excited at the prospect of hanging out with her girlfriends again.

"It would be better if Penny wasn't there" Amy responded quickly, to her own amazement.

"Why, what's going on between you two? Did you get in a fight or something?"

"No, no, not at all." Amy said.

"It's just that Sheldon and I agreed that we keep our relationship to ourselves for the time being, and you know how Penny can be."

"All right. It will just be the two of us then" Bernadette said.

"Thank you Bernadette, see you tomorrow then" Amy replied and hung up.

Now that she had lifted some of the anxiety from her mind, she decided it was time to complete this day with a hot, relaxing bath.

Since it had work reasonably well last night before Sheldon had arrived, she was hoping it would again this time.

She was glad to realize it once again did its job, when she had gotten out and dried herself of, she quickly moved towards the bedroom and put on her nightgown.

When she had gotten into bed, she noticed the opposite side of it was still showing signs that it had been occupied not too long ago.

This resulted in her closing her eyes, and reliving every precious moment between her and Sheldon last night, in this room.

Not long after that, she dozed off, with a huge smile on her face.

* * *

Just after 11 o'clock, Amy pulled in one of the parking spaces near Howard and Bernadette's place.

When she rang the doorbell, Bernadette answered it after a few seconds.

After greeting Bernadette, she walked inside, and noticed that Howard indeed wasn't there, which released a lot of tension from her body.

She had been worried that he might be there, even though Bernadette had told her he had made plans with Raj.

"Want some coffee Amy?" Bernadette asked, while taking Amy's coat from her, and placing it over one of the kitchen chairs.

"Yes, that would be nice" Amy responded.

"So what's going on that you wanted to talk about? You said that everything was fine, right?"

"Oh it is, it's just something sort of unexpected happened last night, which left me a bit nervous" Amy said, after taking a sip of the coffee, which was still very hot.

"What happened last night?" Bernadette asked, now starting to get curious.

"Sheldon asked me to join him for dinner tonight" Amy said.

"So, what's weird about that? You two do have your scheduled date nights right?"

"I assume you've had dinner before together?" she asked, confused as to where Amy was heading with this.

"Of course we have, but I had the feeling he has something more planned" Amy responded.

"More? What do you mean, did he say anything to make you think that?" Bernadette asked.

"No, he didn't really say anything like that, it's hard to explain."

Amy wondered how she could make Bernadette see that Sheldon had suggested something more than just dinner could happen, without revealing that he mentioned that she might end up spending the night there?

"It was just a feeling I got, I thought I picked up some signals from him hinting at something more" Amy finally said.

"Well, would it be a bad thing if he did? I mean, I know its Sheldon, but we all know that you mean a lot to him. Remember what Leonard told you when Sheldon was away to Texas?"

"Sheldon does care more for you then you think" Bernadette continued on.

"_If only you knew" _Amy thought, unable to hide a little smile.

"Yeah, you're probably right. I guess I'm just worried for nothing" Amy said.

Amy and Bernadette continued talking for a bit longer, only over work related subjects.

When Amy noticed it was already well past 12, she decided to go home and grab a bite to eat.

* * *

After she had done that, she just fell down on the couch, with the intention of watching some television before she would start getting ready for her dinner date with Sheldon.

However, after a little while, she didn't know exactly how long it had taken, she had fallen asleep on the couch.

Luckily when she awoke, she realized she still had more than enough time to take a shower, put on a little make up and got dressed up a little more than she would usually do.

But if Sheldon really had something else planned, she wanted to be ready for it.

She arrived a bit early at the apartment, but she was too excited to wait in her car.

After knocking on the door, she could hear Sheldon saying he would be there in a minute.

When he finally opened the door, she stepped inside.

She was greeted with a nice, gentle kiss from Sheldon, and lingered on, locked in his deep blue eyes.

After she had stepped inside the apartment, and managed to free her of his eyes, she couldn't believe what she was seeing.


	14. Chapter 14

Sheldon awoke later than usual the next morning, it was already 9:30 when he walked into the living room, and headed straight to the kitchen, stopping in front of the refrigerator.

As he was trying to decide what he wanted for breakfast, he started to realize something was not quite right. This puzzled him, because although he had turned in later than usual last night, he still had slept the right number of hours, and he had not woken up in the middle of the night for a bathroom break.

He made himself a bowl of cereal and a cup of tea, green tea mixed with lemon zinger. Amy had made him try it once, and while at first he disregarded it, he actually grown to like it.

Taking his breakfast with him towards the couch, he sat down in his spot, but didn't turn on the television. His mind was still trying to solve what was causing him to feel this way?

It wasn't anything physical, he wasn't hurt, and his body felt sufficiently rested.

Could it be that his conversation with Amy last night was the cause? When he told her he was comfortable with the path their relationship had taken, he meant it. He had never been so sure about anything else in his life.

So why did that line keep coming back into his mind?

Unable to figure it out, he decided to give it a rest for now. Sometimes his mind could just solve these kind of things when not focusing on it. So he finished his breakfast, sitting in silence.

When he was done, he cleared the table, did the dishes and walked back towards his bedroom to change into his regular clothing.

When he walked past the bathroom on his way back to the living room, he saw that the basket for dirty laundry still stood there, waiting to be taken care of. Not wasting anytime on thinking how he could have forgotten that, he simply picked it up, grabbed his keys from the bowl next to the front door, and exited the apartment.

Doing laundry always seemed to have a soothing effect on him. Whether it was the sounds of the spinning of the machine, or the scent of freshly washed cloths afterwards, he didn't know.

But it always reminded him of all the hours he had spent watching his mother do it when he was growing up.

She may not have understood him in a way he had always wanted to, he knew she had always been supportive of him. While others, even his father and both of his siblings either ignored or teased him, she had been there for him.

This continued on to this very day, and that was one of the reasons he still looked to her for help.

After the laundry finally was done, and neatly folded again, he walked back up the stairs.

When he had put it all away, he sat down again on the couch.

Normally it would have been time to have his lunch, but since he had a late breakfast this morning, he didn't feel hungry at all.

Now that his chores were done, he needed something to occupy his mind, to keep him from thinking about that one sentence which kept popping up.

Then he knew what to do, remembering what he had thought about while doing his laundry just now.

He automatically grabbed his phone, which was in his pocket.

Scrolling through the list of recent contacts, he noticed her name wasn't among the top 5 ones anymore.

Had it really been that long since he had spoken to her for that to have happened?

* * *

"Hi Mom" Sheldon said, when he heard his mother answer the phone.

"Hello Shelly-bean, how are you doing?" Mary asked, surprised by the call from her youngest son.

"I'm all right" Sheldon replied.

"Why are you calling Sheldon? Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing…" he said with a slight hesitation.

"I…I was just wondering how things are with Missy?"

"Don't you dare try to fool me Shelly, you know things are great with Missy and little George" Mary said, not falling for his attempt to avoid the real reason for his call.

"Missy has send us all an e-mail with some pictures a few days ago, so why don't you tell me why you are calling me?"

"Is everything okay at work?" she asked.

"Work is going fine, I'm not calling about that"

"Then why are you calling? Did you get into a fight with someone?"

"It's about … Amy" Sheldon said, with a hint of worry in his voice.

"What about Amy? Did something happened between you two again?"

Mary was now starting to get worried too. She had only met Amy once, three years ago.

When Sheldon and Amy had mutual agreed to end their relationship, Sheldon had been devastated.

He of course wouldn't admit it to himself, but after she had gotten the call from Leonard, and had seen her son's behavior with her own eyes, she knew Amy's importance is his life.

Sheldon had not talked about their relationship with his mother that often, but when he did it had always been something of great importance to Sheldon.

The only times he had mentioned Amy was after she had officially become his girlfriend, the other time was when she had taken the job at Cal-Tech a few months ago.

When she didn't get a reply from Sheldon, she really knew something was going.

"Sheldon, answer me. What happened between you and Amy?" she asked again, more directly this time.

"I…I'm afraid to tell you" Sheldon whispered.

"What is it Sheldon? I am starting to worry about you, do I need to come over?" hoping this would snap Sheldon out of it.

"I slept with Amy two nights ago" he blurted out, without realizing why he had done that.

"SHELDON LEE COOPER" Mary now shouted into the phone.

"You have done what?" she said, forcing herself to calm down, realizing her shouting was the last thing Sheldon needed right now.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you Shellie, I'm just surprised to hear that."

"Why don't you tell me what happened between the two of you, because I have a feeling there is more to it then you are telling me." Mary asked.

Sheldon slowly started telling her everything that had happened the last week, from the moment Penny had walked in on him and Amy, to everything that had happened two nights ago in Amy's apartment.

He also told her about the plans he had made for this evening, including the Skype call he had with Amy.

Mary obviously needed some time to let it all sink in, she had not expected to have this conversation with Sheldon anytime soon.

"So, when you say you slept with Amy, you mean that literally?" she now asked.

"Of course I do, when have you ever heard me say something I didn't mean literally?" Sheldon now returned the question.

"I know Sheldon, but sleeping with someone is usually a way of saying you had sex with that person"

"But I assume that's not what you meant, right?" Mary asked, hoping she was right about her assumption.

"No, I didn't have sex with Amy, we only slept together in the same bed."

"All right, glad we got that cleared up" Mary sighed relieved.

"Was that what's been bothering you, and the reason you called me?"

"No, that didn't bother me, I actually enjoyed all those moments with Amy" he replied.

"Then what is it Sheldon, it's time you get to the point" Mary said.

"What if Amy now hopes things will go faster, even when I'm not ready for them?"

Even though she knew Sheldon was having a hard time with all of this, she couldn't help but smile.

This was the first time Sheldon told her openly about his worries regarding Amy to her, which she knew was an important moment in his life.

"You said Amy asked you to be open about your feelings, did she?" Mary asked.

"She did…"

"So, you are worrying about something that probably won't even happen, and even if it should, you know you can talk to her about it" she stated, knowing Sheldon always responded best to that approach.

"My advice is, just have a good time tonight. Take it slow and see where the evening leads you."

"I know it feels overwhelming to you, but you've already crossed the biggest barrier. You know you can talk to Amy about anything" Mary said.

"Thanks mom" was all Sheldon could say.

* * *

After Amy had walked in the apartment, Sheldon closed the door behind her. When she had taken of her coat, and flung it over Leonard's desk chair, she started to look around the room.

It was as if she had walked in a different apartment, she barely recognized it.

All across the living room, and even in the kitchen, Sheldon had placed and lit candles.

The soft glow coming from them gave the room a very intimate feel to it.

Soft music was coming from the sound system.

"Sheldon, what have you done? It…it looks amazing in here" Amy stuttered.

"Oh, it wasn't that much work. I only had to relocate some of the furniture, so I could place a table for two in here.

Amy hadn't even noticed the table, which was now standing in the center of the apartment.

Besides Leonard's chair, Sheldon also had moved the couch and coffee table further back, so there was plenty of space for the table and the two chairs.

"Please, sit down Amy" Sheldon asked, seeing that Amy was still gazing around the room.

"Would you like some wine, I've chosen some that will go nicely with the dinner I've prepared."

"You...you cooked?" she said, now looking straight at her boyfriend who had moved towards the kitchen.

"I never knew you could do that?"

"When you grow up with Mary Cooper as a mother, you had to learn it, it was not optional" Sheldon said, with a little smile on his face.

While Sheldon filled two glasses of wine, Amy finally placed the bag with her personal belongings on the couch, and then sat down in one of the chairs.

After he placed both glasses on the table, he walked back towards the kitchen.

The meal he had made was nothing to fancy, but it had always been a success growing up in Texas.

Amy seemed to enjoy all dishes he had made for her, from the simple salad to the grilled shrimps as the main course.

As for dessert he had bought some freshly baked brownies, which they both enjoyed in silence together.

"I must say Sheldon, you really surprised me tonight. When you invited me over last night, I knew it was going to be special, but this..." Amy said, staring deep into Sheldon's eyes.

"I am happy you enjoyed this part of the evening, I hope you like the rest too" Sheldon said, lost in Amy's eyes as well.

"The rest of the evening? I thought you just wanted to have dinner together?" Amy asked, realizing her expectations about Sheldon's plans seemed to be coming true.

"Well…I might have kept something from you" Sheldon said, as he rose from his chair.

"Please join me Amy" he said, as he extended his hand to her.

Amy, not knowing what to expect, could only honor his request.

"Where are we going Sheldon?" she asked.

"Not far" he said, nodding to the open area in the living room.

While he guided Amy to that spot, he used his free hand to take the remote of the sound system, and pressed a few buttons.

When he put it away again, some very familiar notes filled the room, Amy realized.

"Sheldon, how...how did you know _The Way You Look Tonight_ is one of my favorite songs?"

"You said that you wanted that song when walking down the aisle, when Howard and Bernadette were planning their wedding. But since you never got the chance to do that, I decided it would be perfect for us, making it our song."

"And after listening to all the many versions there are from it, I chose the Tony Bennett one. When I listened to it for the first time, I just knew it was the right one."

"Now, may I have this dance?" he asked, bowing a little towards her.

Amy, now completely speechless by this gesture, simply moved in close.

Before she knew it, they were even closer together then they had been two nights ago in her bedroom, this time there was no space between them at all.

When the song started for the third time, both of them were now completely lost in each other's eyes, Sheldon leaned in closer. When his lips were almost touching Amy's he spoke again.

"Thank you for being here tonight Amy."

"I can't tell you how happy I am, being here with you" he said.

"That makes two of us" Amy said, smiling at him.

At that moment, Amy couldn't wait any longer, and moved her hands from the back of his waist to his neck and pulled him down just enough so their lips met again.

This time however, she opened her mouth just a little, and playfully licked his lips with her tongue.

"That was unexpected" Sheldon said, failing into suppressing a smile.

"I think that requires further study" he said as he kissed her again, this time he also opened his mouth just enough to mimic Amy's move.

"Fascinating."

They continued dancing for a little while longer, when Sheldon realized it was already getting late, and tomorrow they both would have a pretty busy day ahead of them.

However he didn't want to end his evening with Amy yet, so he decided to reveal the next step in his schedule for the evening.

"Amy, I would like it if you would spent the night here tonight" Sheldon said, now standing still in front of Amy.

"I would too" Amy agreed.

"Excellent, I guess we both could use a shower before we turn in" Sheldon said.

"You go ahead, I'll just blow out the candles and lock the door, and then I'll follow you."

"All right, I promise I won't be too long, you can shower after me" Amy said.

"Well that's one way of doing it, but was hoping we could shower together?" Sheldon asked, giving her a flirtatious smile.

* * *

**Thank you all for the feedback you've given me so far, I really appreciate it.**


	15. Chapter 15

"You…you want to shower together? With me?" Amy asked.

"Obviously I mean you, I don't see anyone here" Sheldon said playfully.

"But, I thought we agreed to take things slow Sheldon? This is going much faster than I had expected to be honest."

"Before I invited you over last night, and even when you arrived here tonight, I had not really planned this far ahead" he admitted.

"But when we were dancing together just now, I realized I wanted you to stay over."

"I want to be close to you Amy. I am ready for that now" Sheldon responded, more seriously now.

"I…I don't really know what to say, I'm still adjusting to this new part of our relationship" Amy confessed.

"If you don't think we are ready for this kind of intimacy, I understand. I know compared to the last three years this is going fast, but I think we can handle it. Together" Sheldon said, still standing close to her.

"You might be right, and I am also ready for it" Amy said carefully.

"Just as long as we take things slow, we will be all right. Together, like you said, we can handle it."

With that said, Amy slowly turned towards the bathroom, looking over her shoulder a few times.

She saw Sheldon putting away the last of the dishes, and then walking towards the front door.

She now had reached the bathroom, opened the door and walked inside. This obviously wasn't the first time in here, but knowing what was going to happen in a few minutes, made her tremble.

"Why I am nervous about this?" she asked herself.

"You always wanted to be intimate with Sheldon, and now you can be."

That was all she needed to hear from her own mind, she was still nervous though.

She was going to see Sheldon naked, and he was going to see her naked as well.

Amy couldn't decide what excited her more.

She first closed the bathroom door, and then pulled away the shower curtain, so she could turn on the water, and switched it from bath to shower.

After a minute she carefully put her hand under the stream, to check if it was too warm or cold, realizing she preferred a warmer stream of water, and changed the temperature a little bit.

Now she came to another decision, would she undress and get in already, or wait for Sheldon to join her in the bathroom. When she was still milling things over in her head, Sheldon knocked on the door.

"Amy, can I come in?" he asked.

"Of course, please do" Amy responded, opening the door for him.

After Sheldon had entered the bathroom, he closed the door behind him.

They now both stood there, just like they had two nights ago in Amy's bedroom.

"I'm nervous Sheldon" Amy said after a little time had passed without either of them saying a word.

"I know, and I am too" Sheldon confirmed, as the room started to get covered in steam more and more.

Even though Sheldon had suggested for them to shower together, Amy was the one to make the first move.

She slowly started to unbutton her cardigan, and then took it off, letting it fall to the floor.

Sheldon could only stand there, watching his girlfriend slowly to undo her blouse as well.

"You better start as well Sheldon, otherwise I am going to shower alone after all" Amy said in a teasing voice.

Just as Amy threw her blouse down near her cardigan, Sheldon took of both of his shirts at once, revealing his bare chest to her.

When Sheldon started to take of his pants, Amy followed too, dropping her skirt almost at the same time.

Sheldon was now only wearing his boxer, and Amy only her bra and underwear.

With one look at each other, they both knew what had to happen next.

"Let me go first Amy, this was my proposition" Sheldon said, strangely enough starting to feel confident.

Without a second thought, he pulled down his boxer, kicking it to the side.

Even though he was standing naked before her, she didn't look down. All she wanted to see was Sheldon as he was, not just a single part of him.

Without realizing it, she had already unhooked her bra at her back, and while staring straight into Sheldon's eyes, she took it off. It actually landed quite close to the rest of her clothes, not that she was aware of that right now.

Sheldon was mesmerized by all of Amy's subtle, gentle moves, but unlike Amy, he did let his eyes wonder over her naked flesh.

After Amy had finally taken off the last piece of clothing, he could not help the look upon that now revealed part of her as well.

"_They really don't always look like that" _was the first thing that entered his mind, remembering Amy's words during their Skype call when he had been in Texas a few weeks ago.

But not long after, he started looking up again, meeting Amy's eyes and smiling at her.

Amy couldn't believe this was actually happening. Just over a week ago she had thought, and told Penny she was thinking of ending her relationship with Sheldon.

And look at them now, both standing before each other completely naked.

* * *

Sheldon stepped in the shower first, and then stretched out his arm, waiting for Amy to take his hand.

With a small hesitation, she took hold of his hand, and joined him.

Sheldon now took hold of the curtain again, and moved it towards Amy's side of the shower. Knowing that Sheldon couldn't close it all the way from where he was standing, Amy met him halfway to take it over and close it completely.

During this, both of their hands touched ever so briefly, but it was enough to send shivers of ecstasy through both of their bodies.

The warm stream of water, which now seemed to produce even more steam, was falling between them.

Amy, even though enjoying the warmth of the steam filling the air, couldn't stop her body from showing a small shiver, which wasn't lost on Sheldon.

Just when Amy wanted to step forward to stand under the stream, and closer to Sheldon, he spoke again.

"Turn around Amy."

"Why, Sheldon? What are you going to do?" she asked.

"I want to use the stream to warm you up, I can see you're shivering from the cold" he said.

"So please Amy, turn around" Sheldon asked again, while reaching up at taking the shower head out of its holder.

Excited by this prospect, Amy quickly obliged his request, and stood with her back towards him, not daring to look back.

After a few seconds, she could feel Sheldon had moved closer, without actually touching her just yet.

She could feel the soft, warm water coming down on her left shoulder, flowing down the rest of her body.

Instinctively she closed her eyes, which increased the emotions she had been feeling ever since they had been together in the bathroom.

When she felt the stream moving along her neck, towards her right shoulder, she could feel Sheldon was using his other hand to slowly massage the left shoulder.

"Hmmmm"

"That feels amazing Sheldon" she spoke after a minute.

"Glad to hear, since I've never been in this situation before" he responded.

"It's better than I've ever dreamed it would be" Amy said, starting to give off little signs of arousal.

Sheldon had now moved the water stream over to her back, massaging the same area as where the stream touched her body.

He noticed that Amy preferred to be touched in certain spots more than others, and quickly picked up on those, focusing his efforts there.

"Time to turn around again Amy" Sheldon said after a little while.

"Are you now going to give my front the same treatment?" Amy asked hopefully, turning towards him.

"In a way" Sheldon said, placing the shower head back in its holder.

"I want us both to really share the shower now, but I'm not sure how to proceed" he said, looking at Amy, with a puzzled look on his face.

"I have an idea" Amy said, almost leaping forward, and kissing Sheldon passionately.

She was now pressed up against him, no room left between them anymore.

Her wet, naked breasts were now slowly moving against his chest, while they both lost all notion of time and place.

Standing there, underneath the warm water flowing down on both of them, Sheldon forgot all his fears and doubts, and started to move his hands down the back of Amy.

Before he know it, they were resting on her bottom.

Amy started to notice, now that she was so close to Sheldon that she wasn't the only one getting aroused by what was happening.

She slowly pulled away from their kiss, but not leaving much room between them, so that both of them were still caught underneath the stream.

"I…I am sorry Amy" Sheldon started apologizing, which made Amy actually smile a little.

"Sheldon, there is nothing to apologize for. It's perfectly natural to become sexually aroused in these situations" Amy replied calmly.

"It's new for both of us, neither one of us has ever done something like this before, right?"

"Right" Sheldon said, still not looking at her.

"Then look at me. It's just me" Amy said, trying to calm Sheldon down.

"I'm just not ready for…this" Sheldon said, now meeting Amy's eyes.

"I know Sheldon, and that's ok. Remember what we talked about" she said.

"You talk to me, I talk to you."

"That's how this works, and how it will always work for us" Amy continued on, noticing Sheldon was starting to show signs of relief.

"Let's get out of here, we've come a long way today. I can honestly say it has been the best night of my life."

"I…I was so nervous about today, afraid I would mess things up again" Sheldon confided to Amy, while turning off the water.

"Well, as you can tell, I enjoyed it immensely, and I like to believe that you did too?" Amy asked, with a big grin on her face.

"Oh I did, it's been the best night of my life as well"

Now they both stepped out of the shower together, each of them drying themselves off.

Realizing they had dropped their clothes on the floor, they decided they didn't need them anymore today.

So Sheldon opened the door, seeing the steam escaping out in the hall immediately.

Taking Amy by her hand, they both walked towards his bedroom.

When inside, closing the door behind them, Amy noticed the bag she had brought with her was now sitting on his bed.

While she pulled out the clothes she needed for the night, Sheldon did the same from his dresser.

When they both had finished, Sheldon took Amy's bag off his bed, and carefully pulled back the cover.

Without a word said between them, they both simply got in, and moved near each other.

Sheldon pulled the covers back up, and lay his head down on the pillow.

Amy was on her side, leaning on her elbow, looking how Sheldon already started to fall asleep.

Quickly but gently she kissed him for a few seconds, before laying her head down on the second pillow.

"Thank you for tonight" were the last words spoken in the room, before both fell asleep.

* * *

When they awoke together the following morning, they were cuddled up together, with Sheldon spooning Amy, having one of his arms over her, as if to keep her close.

Not knowing what had caused them to awaken at the same time, they slowly sat up in bed, it sounded if someone had been knocking on the apartment door for a little while.

When the sound didn't return, they both returned to their former position, only this time they were lying both on their backs, with Amy resting her head on Sheldon's shoulder.

At that time, they both heard footsteps coming down the hall to his bedroom.

A few second later the door flew open, and they saw Penny standing there, crying uncontrollable.

"Penny, what's wrong?" Amy asked, jumping out of bed, to comfort her best friend.

"Sheldon, why didn't you answer your phone? Missy has been trying to call you for the last hour"

Sheldon quickly realized he had left his mobile phone in the living room on his desk, and had put it on silent last night before Amy arrived.

"What, what's going on?" he asked, now trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

"Missy called me a few minutes ago. Something awful has happened Sheldon" Penny said, still crying, now with Amy's arms around her.

"What is it?" Sheldon asked, now standing next to his bed, with a worried look on his face.

"It...it's about your mother"


	16. Chapter 16

When Penny had spoken those words, both Amy and Penny looked towards Sheldon. Amy could see the confusion appearing in his expressions, she could almost hear his thoughts as he was trying to comprehend what he had just heard.

"What did Missy tell you?" Amy asked, realizing that Sheldon was unable to pose the question.

"Not…not much, just that she got a call from the hospital in Houston that Mary had been brought in, and that they are doing tests now" Penny sobbed, clutching on to Amy.

"Sheldon?" Amy asked, seeing that he hadn't moved at all since Penny told what she heard from Sheldon's sister.

"Are you all right? Say something please" Amy said, now walking over to him, trying to comfort him.

"I…I don't understand."

"I talked to her yesterday afternoon, and she sounded just fine" he said.

"Missy said she did manage to call 911 herself, but when the ambulance arrived, she was already unconscious, lying on the couch" Penny said, after she managed to control her tears a little.

Sheldon quickly ran out of his room, passing Amy and Penny, into to the living room.

When they both followed him after a minute, they saw he was trying to use his phone, but having troubles because he was shaking all over.

When Amy walked over, he apparently had managed to pick Missy's name from his contact list, and brought the phone to his ear.

Amy and Penny just stood there, watching silently, waiting to see what would happen.

As the seconds passed by, one after the other, Sheldon's eyes started to fill up with tears.

When he realized his call wasn't going to be answered, he cancelled it, and threw the phone carelessly back on his desk.

"Voicemail" he said, now looking at Amy, who was starting to tear up also.

"I…I need to go" Sheldon said softly, as if he was talking only to himself.

After that he walked straight back to his room, not looking at either Penny or Amy, leaving them standing there.

"What do you think could have happened to her?" Penny asked.

"Could be any number of things, it's almost impossible to speculate" Amy said, her mind wondering over every possible situation.

"The fact that she managed to call 911 is a good thing though, it means she knew something was wrong, which probably saved some valuable time" she continued, trying to rationalize it as much as possible.

"What do you think Sheldon meant when he said, he had to go? Do you think he just wants to be alone?" Penny asked, afraid to let the room fall silent.

"Maybe, but we both know how important she is to Sheldon."

"He may not have agreed with her from time to time, but she is the most important person in his life" Amy said.

"I don't think that's really true, but I do see what you mean" Penny responded.

When Sheldon returned to the living room, he looked terrible. His eyes had turned red, tears were now streaming down his face.

He had changed into what looked the first set of clothes he could find in his room, wearing one of his Super hero t-shirts and brown pants.

He had a bag with him, which Amy immediately recognized as his emergency bag.

Once again, he walked past them both, grabbed his phone and wallet of the desk, and headed towards the door.

Amy realized her suspicion had been right, Sheldon planned on going back to Texas, without even knowing what was really going on.

"Sheldon, wait" Amy said loudly, in an attempt to get his attention.

When they saw he wasn't responding, both Penny and Amy dashed for the door.

Penny was the first to reach him, blocking the door to the best of her ability.

"Penny, what are you doing? Get out of my way" Sheldon said, getting angry.

"Not until you talk to us, or least talk to Amy" Penny said, not stepping aside.

"Amy? What has this to do with Amy?" he responded, not understanding what his neighbor tried to tell him.

"Don't you see she's worried about you?"

"I don't care, I need to go home!" Sheldon shouted.

"Sheldon wait, let me quickly change, and I'll go with you" Amy said, now caressing his arm softly, hoping it would calm him down a little.

"You don't understand, I can't wait."

"I need to be there, I can't lose her" Sheldon said, trying to lower his voice, unsuccessfully.

"Sheldon, please don't do this alone. You're in no state to travel alone" Amy continued.

"Let me be there for you, I want to be there for you."

"I don't need you!" Sheldon shouted, pushing Penny out of the way, and leaving the apartment.

When the door remained open behind him, the silence Penny had feared was finally here.

Sheldon was gone, leaving Amy and herself behind.

When she turned to ask Amy what to do next, she could see her best friend now too was crying, just when she herself had finally been able to stop her own tears.

"Amy, are you all right?"

Amy started to look up, meeting the eyes of her blond friend through a waterfall of tears.

"He really left, didn't he?"

"And he doesn't need me" she said, before collapsing to the ground.

* * *

"LEONARD!"

"LEONARD, get out here" Penny shouted towards her own apartment, hoping he would hear her.

While waiting to see if Leonard would come to her aid, she knelt beside Amy, who had taken a nasty hit when she had fallen down.

Gently Penny checked if she could see any serious injuries, especially on Amy's head, she sighed relieved she couldn't find any.

After what seemed like an eternity, Leonard opened the door and saw both Penny and Amy on the floor, he couldn't even think what happened here.

He had heard some shouting, but he had assumed that was just Sheldon being upset by the news Penny had told him.

Amy slowly started to regain consciousness, looking around, feeling dazed.

"Wh…what happened?" she asked, looking around until she finally recognized Penny's face.

"You fell down, remember?" Penny asked, sharing a worried look with Leonard, who still didn't know what had happened.

"No, I don't…"

"I remember talking to Sheldon, but after that, nothing" Amy said, feeling very confused.

"What is the last thing you remember from your conversation with Sheldon?" Penny asked, as she carefully helped Amy sit up on the floor.

Leonard in the meantime stood up and grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen, returning quickly, handing the glass to Amy.

After taking a sip of the water, and placing the glass on the floor beside her, she tried to stand up, with the help of both Leonard and Penny.

"He said something about going home I think?" she answered.

"But where is he, this is his apartment, right?"

"Yes, it is Amy" Penny answered.

"But that's not what he meant, he's going home to Texas."

At that time, most of it came back to her.

"Why didn't you go after him" Amy said, looking mad at Penny.

"What? I was here making sure you were ok" Penny said.

"I was worried about you, you really fell hard on the floor"

"But Sheldon…he can't handle this on his own" Amy sobbed, as her tears returned in full force.

"I know Amy, I know" Penny said, seeing that Leonard was finally understanding what had happened, now sharing the worried look with Penny.

"Leonard, why don't you go see if you can find Sheldon" Penny said.

"I'll stay here with Amy, making sure she's all right."

Seeing that Amy was physically all right, especially with Penny here, Leonard quickly grabbed his car keys and left the apartment, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Penny guided Amy to the couch, which was still pushed to the back of the apartment, and both of them sat down.

While she obviously was curious about what happened between Amy and Sheldon, since they ended up in bed together, she knew this wasn't the time to ask about it.

After sitting together together for some time, Amy started to feel hungry, and tried to stand up.

When Penny saw that, she hold her back.

"Where are you going Amy?" she asked, still holding her arm.

"I better get some breakfast, before going to work today" Amy said.

"You're not going today, are you? I don't think that is a good idea Amy" Penny responded.

"Not only did you just pass out, you've in no state emotionally to go to work right now."

"I am ok Penny" Amy said.

"I need something to take my mind of it, there is nothing else I can do" she continued.

"At least let me make you some breakfast first, you just sit back and take a moment to let it all sink in" her best friend said.

Penny now got up herself, and made some French toast for both of them, since she herself hadn't eaten yet after she had been awakened by Missy's phone call.

When they both had cleared their plates, Penny washed the dishes and tried to reorganize the living room to the best of her ability, and Amy had gotten dressed in Sheldon's bedroom, using the clothes she had brought with her last night.

"Are you sure you want to go to work, what if Sheldon calls?" Penny asked.

"I've got my phone with me, and I'll send him a text message when I arrive at the University"

"And if Leonard finds him in time, you can call me. I can always come back then, if he wants to…" Amy said with a sigh.

"Don't think like that Amy, Sheldon didn't mean what he said" Penny stated, looking straight at Amy.

"He was just very worried about his mother, he probably didn't realize what he said."

"Maybe not, but after the progress we made these last few days, I never saw it coming" Amy said, thinking back to how she had felt last night.

"I thought we finally reached a point in our relationship where we could be there for each other, through the good and the bad times. "

"But it looks like I was wrong" Amy said, tears still welling up in her eyes.

"Want to tell me what happened last night?" Penny asked, feeling Amy might be willing to tell her now, and it might cheer her up too.

"It was amazing Penny, Sheldon was so sweet and romantic, you wouldn't believe it" Amy said, showing a little smile behind her tears.

"He had cooked dinner, we danced for a long time."

"And then we kissed again, even more intense then when he had stayed in my apartment two nights ago" Amy said.

"Wait, what?" Penny said.

She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Kissed again? You mean that when Leonard and me showed up and asked about what happened, you two lied to us?"

"Well…we didn't really lie, we just felt to keep that, and other things secret for the time being" Amy admitted, feeling a blush coming on, instead of tears.

"Other things? What do you mean by that?"

"You better start telling me exactly what happened" Penny now said, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"What we told you and Leonard was true, all of it. I just kept the fact that we really kissed for the first time, and the fact that we slept together to ourselves" Amy explained, smiling more and more.

"You slept with Sheldon? You mean actual…" Penny tried to ask, but to amazed to finish the sentence.

"No, we did not. We just slept together, in the same bed" Amy said, now calmly.

"How…how did you manage to pull that off, I never thought Sheldon would be willing to do that?"

"Sheldon was actually very rational about it, and said it would be the perfect ending of the night" Amy confessed.

"So I guess he really liked it, since he invited you over again last night?" Penny asked, still trying to picture the Sheldon Amy was describing.

"We both did, it was a very intimate time for us" Amy replied.

"And that's why you spend the night here last night?"

"That explains why you two looked so snuggly together this morning, when I entered his bedroom" Penny stated.

"Yes that did help, but the shower we shared last night also helped a lot" Amy said, throwing a little wink towards Penny.

While Penny was trying to comprehend Amy's sudden honesty, Leonard walked back in.

"I was too late. He's already on his way to Texas, even before I got to the airport."

"How do you know?" Amy asked, not that she had expected any other answer.

"I got a text message from him in a response to mine, asking where he was" Leonard said.

"He said he was just about to board the plane, and that we should leave him alone. He would contact us when he could."

After that, the room fell silent again…


	17. Chapter 17

When Sheldon had boarded the plane, after finding his seat and putting away his hand luggage, he sat down in the aisle seat.

He was sitting next to an elderly woman, who reminded a little of his Meemaw in the way she gave him a gentle smile. Shortly after the passengers had been welcomed on board, the plane had taken off, heading towards Texas.

Sheldon could only think about his mother, and how he still not had been able to get a hold of Missy.

His mind kept wondering if that was a good or bad sign, this was going the longest day of his life, unsure if he could live with the uncertainty of not knowing.

Why did this have to happen? His life was finally becoming something he had never expected to happen.

He was having a great group of friends, his work was still capable of exciting him every single day.

And after so many years, he was actually dating. And not just anyone, he was dating someone who could challenge him on an intellectual level.

Amy had changed his life in a way he never pictured anyone could have that effect on him.

_AMY!_

He suddenly remembered the words he had spoken to her, from the moment he headed for the door.

Had he really said all those things to her? That couldn't be, he could never say those things to Amy…

But he had, he had told her that he didn't care…that he didn't need her. But he did, he could not do this without her.

Why? Why would he have told her that?

Sure he had been emotional when Penny told him the news, and the fact that Missy didn't answer her phone made it worse.

But all Amy had done was try to calm him, as she always did when he was upset about something.

Like when he had found out Kripke's work was much further along than his own, she just sat there, throwing her arms around him.

Not to mention last night, from the dancing, to the kissing, even during the shower he had remained calm. It was all because of her.

After thinking, and reliving most of that evening, he reached for his phone, checking to see if he had gotten any messages.

Only one. He couldn't make up his mind who he hoped it would be from more?

Missy, or Amy?

When he opened the message, he saw it was from Amy:

_Sheldon, I'm sorry about your mom._

_I hope everything turns out all right for her. Call me when you can._

_Amy_

Now he regretted his actions from a few hours ago even more, she really did care about his well-being, and that of his mother too.

He could not wait until the plane landed for him to call her, he needed to explain things to her now.

When he chose her name from the short list of contacts, a stewardess walked up to him.

"Sir, you're not allowed to use your mobile phone during the flight" the short, blond woman told him in a gentle, but firm tone.

"You…you don't understand, I really need to make this call" Sheldon tried to explain, growing ever more worried about his cruel words to Amy.

"I understand that sir, but still I can't allow that" she continued on, talking like she had this conversation many times before.

"We will land in Houston in about four hours, then you can make all the calls you want."

Realizing he wasn't going to win this argument, since the stewardess was right about it, he put away his phone again.

The woman next to him has just sat there, silently observing Sheldon, and the conversation that had just taken place right in front of her.

She could see the worried look on his face, and noticed the first signs of tears appearing in his eyes.

"What's wrong son?" she asked in a sincere way, slowly placing her hand on Sheldon's.

"I…I am a horrible human being, that's what's wrong" Sheldon replied, trying to hide his tears by wiping his eyes with the sleeves of his jacket.

"What do you mean? Whatever made you think that, can't be that bad?" she responded with a curious look on her face.

"Oh really?" Sheldon said sarcastically.

"A few hours ago I got a call that my mother has been admitted in a hospital, after losing consciousness"

"And when I heard that, I told my girlfriend, who I've been dating for over 3 years and who tried to comfort me by coming with me, that I don't need her" Sheldon rambled on.

"But I do need her, now more than ever."

"Sounds like you both had a terrible morning" the woman said, still padding his hand slowly.

"But I'm sure she understands, especially when you explain it to her after we've landed."

"Thank you, I hope you are right" Sheldon said, still sobbing.

"I can't lose her too, I just can't."

"You haven't lost anyone yet, your mother is probably going to be just fine" she replied, giving Sheldon a little nod.

"And same will go with your girlfriend, if you explain things to her, she will understand and forgive you."

"And I would like to think you made a friend today, so you actually gained something, instead of losing. What's your name?"

"Sheldon" he replied, calmed down a little by the soothing words.

"Hello Sheldon, my name is Lily" she spoke, giving him a smile.

The rest of the flight passed uneventful.

Sheldon and Lily talked about plenty of things, just to keep him from pondering over both troubling situations, one in Houston and the other in Pasadena.

He knew he had to make it up to Amy, but he couldn't do that until he knew what had happened to his mother.

After the plane landed, and he retrieved his bag, he said his goodbyes to Lily after exchanging phone numbers.

When he exited the airport, he walked straight up the first taxi he saw, jumped in with his bag still clutched to him, and ordered the driver to take him to the hospital.

* * *

Amy arrived around 11 am at her lab, closing the door half way.

She had send Sheldon a short text message when she walked in the University.

Amy had plenty of results to go through from her earlier experiments to determine the fear levels in her test subjects, and after that she was planning to prepare a new series of photographs to use during the rest of the week.

After working through most of the results, she and her colleagues had gathered over the last week, she heard a knock on the door of her lab, and President Siebert walked in.

"Good afternoon Dr. Fowler, glad you finally arrived today" he said.

"Yes, sorry I was late this morning, I had a rough start" Amy told him, not looking forward to explaining why.

"We'll just let it go this time, your work has been remarkable so far. Just don't let it happen again" Siebert continued.

"I was looking for you this morning, I was wondering if you know where Dr. Cooper is?"

"He hasn't checked in, and he usually is really punctual about it, since he doesn't have to do that" he said.

"You didn't hear? I thought Leon... I mean Dr. Hofstadter would have informed you" Amy answered, confused why Leonard hadn't told him about what happened with Sheldon's mother.

"Dr. Cooper's mother has been admitted to a hospital in Houston this morning, and after hearing the news, Dr. Cooper went there immediately. I haven't heard from him since."

"Oh well, guess that makes sense then" Siebert said, not showing any real emotion in his voice, which got Amy slightly upset again.

"I am sorry, but I guess it just slipped his mind" Amy responded irritated.

"Either way, if you hear from him, please let me know" Siebert concluded, before leaving the lab, closing the door behind him.

* * *

After returning to her work, and creating a few new tests, her phone started to ring.

One quick glance at the display, and she immediately answered.

"Sheldon?"

"Amy...?"

"Are you all right Sheldon, are you at the hospital now?"

"Yes, I arrived an hour ago, I just stepped outside for a bit of fresh air" he replied.

Amy could hear that he was having troubles containing his emotions.

"Did you learn anything about what happened to your mother? They must have some test results back by now?" Amy asked.

"Yes that had already finished doing the tests by the time I got here, and just informed us that they hadn't found anything wrong."

"So…how's your mom doing? Is she awake yet?"

"Yes, apparently she woke up not long after they brought her in, they expect she hasn't been out for very long.

"Glad to hear that, I must say I've been worried about her, you and Missy as well."

"Thank you Amy" Sheldon said, feeling he needed to talk about what he had said to her this morning in his apartment.

However, Amy spoke first, leaving that topic on his mind for a later time.

"So, what's going to happen now? Are they going to run more tests on her?" Amy wondered, slightly concerned that the doctors hadn't found any cause.

"Well, they want to keep her at least for a night, to monitor her for a full 24 hours. After that they plan do some more tests, and study the results of all the data collected at that point" Sheldon said.

"So maybe she can come home tomorrow, we'll just have to wait and see."

"If you want, I can still come over, be there for you" Amy said, trying to show her support through the phone.

"I prefer that you didn't actually" he said.

"I've been thinking about it for a while, and when I was on the flight over here, I realized what a terrible things I said to you this morning" Sheldon continued.

"I knew that I shouldn't have said those things to you, you were only trying to be supportive of me."

"Yeah, they weren't exactly easy to hear, I thought we were finally in a place where we could share every moment together, the good and the bad ones" Amy said.

"After I realized what I had done to you, I just wanted you to be here with me, I needed you" Sheldon confessed.

"So, what are you telling me? Do you want me to come over or not?" Amy asked, confused about the mixed signals she was receiving from Sheldon.

"I don't. Amy, you have to understand how difficult this is for me. I liked what was happening between us last night, I really did."

"But now this happened, and I just need time to sort this all out first, I need to give it a place first" Sheldon continued.

Amy now had enough, she couldn't hold it back anymore.

"Sheldon, you need to listen to me now" Amy said loudly.

"Do you hear yourself? All you do is think about how this effects you."

"Do you even really know what you did to me? How it felt for me to hear those words?"

"How I wanted to be there for you, for your sister and your mother? For us?" she said, getting very emotional now.

"What...what are you saying Amy?" Sheldon asked.

"I am saying that you need to realize you are not the only person in this relationship, you are not the only one that matters" Amy said, her voice trembling.

"I know you are going through a lot, and I really do hope your mother will be fine, but I just can't take this anymore."

"You can't keep pushing me away like this, you need to let me in" Amy said, now feeling the tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I…I can't, not just now. Amy, you have to understand…"

"I do understand Sheldon, I finally do."

"There is no we in your mind, there is only I" Amy said in between breaths.

"And that no longer works for me, we are done!"

And with that, she broke off the call, grabbed her personal items from her desk and drove straight over to 2311 N. Los Robles Avenue, apartment 4b.


	18. Chapter 18

After Amy had hung up, Sheldon just sat there. It felt as if his brain had completely shut down, and he was now acting on pure instinct.

When Missy had come looking for him, since he hadn't returned when he said he would, she was shocked by the sight of her twin brother.

Sheldon was sitting on the side of the park, which was just outside the main entrance of the hospital.

He was rocking himself back and forth, completely lost in his mind and thoughts.

All she could hear him say was:

"No…no…no…no…"

"Sheldon?" Missy asked, showing a concerned look on her face.

"Where have you been? Mom's awake and she wants to see you."

"Sheldon, are you listening to me?" she asked again, but getting no response at all.

"What's going on?" she asked, now noticing he was still holding on to his phone.

"She's gone, I...I can't believe it" he stuttered, while continuing moving his upper body back and forth, unaware of this.

"Who's gone? Mom?" Missy asked, confused about his behavior.

"Mom's just fine, you know that. Yes, the tests haven't revealed anything yet, but she's awake and the doctors say that's a very good sign."

"It's ...Amy" he responded after a few minutes.

"Amy? What about her Sheldon?"

"I thought you two were doing just fine, you told us so the last time you were here, remember?" Missy said, thinking back to last Christmas, when he had returned to Texas to be there for her during the birth of his nephew.

"We were until last night, but when I got the news from Penny this morning, I said some terrible things to her. And when I called her just now, apparently I pushed Amy so far, that she…"

"She what Sheldon? What's happened between you two?"

"She said we are done" he whispered, now feeling his sister sitting down next to him on the grass.

After that, Sheldon told Missy everything that had happened between them last night.

Although she never expected her brother to act like that, she could feel a smile appearing on her face.

This sign however confused Sheldon, getting angry with her.

"You're laughing at me? You like to see me like this?"

"No, no Sheldon I don't" Missy quickly said, realizing she needed to explain herself.

"I just think it's sweet that you finally found someone special, and that she feels the same way about you."

"Haven't you been listening Missy? Why do I always have to spell things out for you?" Sheldon said with a raised voice, now standing up.

"Amy just broke up with me, over the phone. When I am already going through a lot with Mom being here."

"Does that sound like something anyone who thinks I'm special would do?" he now asked in return.

"Oh Shelly, you really need to learn a lot about women, don't you?" Missy said, again with a little smile on her face.

"Now you want to mock my intelligence as well? I thought when you called me a Rocket scientist you hit rock bottom" her brother said with an agitated tone is his voice.

"I'll explain it to you later, first let's go see Mom, that will do you good" she said, thinking together with their mother she could explain it to him. She had met Amy after all, and use that in this situation.

"Fine, whatever" Sheldon said, as he started walking back towards the entrance of the hospital, with Missy quickly following him, catching up with him just before he reached the revolving door.

* * *

As soon as Penny opened the door, Amy threw herself into her arms. Penny had decided to take the day off, just in case Amy needed her in some way. Now she was both glad and sad at the same time in realizing it was the right choice.

When she felt Amy's shaking body pressed up against her own, all she could do is close her arms around her, slowly stroking the back of her head.

"Ames, what's going on?"

"Did you hear something from Sheldon about Mary? Please don't tell me she's…"

"I…I did it Penny" Amy stuttered, crying on her best friends shoulder.

"You did what Amy? Talk to me" Penny said, releasing Amy who now stepped inside the apartment, so that Penny could close the door.

"I think I just broke up with Sheldon" Amy said, letting herself fall down on Penny's couch.

Penny stood frozen to the ground, still near the door. When Penny finally had agreed that Amy should go to work this morning, she had felt not comfortable with that at all, but Amy's mind had been made up.

Maybe the distraction would keep her occupied long enough until either of them heard from Sheldon.

After a minute or two, which was spend by Penny letting Amy's words sink in, and Amy just sitting there, crying with her face buried in her hands, Penny forced herself to snap out of it, and sat down next to Amy.

"Tell me what happened, because you don't sound all too sure" Penny asked.

"There isn't much to tell. Sheldon called me an hour ago, he told me the doctors haven't found anything wrong yet, and that they are keeping Mary overnight, to run some more tests."

"But when I asked him if I should fly out anyway, to be there for him, he made it pretty clear where his priorities lie, and they are not in this relationship we had" Amy said, looking at Penny from the corner of her eyes.

"All he kept saying is how this whole situation affected him, how hard it was for him."

"He admitted that he said some terrible things to me this morning, but he never asked how I was doing with all of this. It was just like the old Sheldon had reinserted himself again" Amy said, drying her eyes with the sleeves of her cardigan.

"I know I am probably the worst person in the world to break up with him at a time like this, but I just couldn't take it anymore Penny. I don't understand why he keeps pushing me away when things take a turn for the worst" Amy said, fighting her emotions since she didn't want to cry anymore tears for him.

"You're not the worst person in the world Amy, you couldn't even be if you tried" Penny responded, who also felt her heart break for both of her friends.

"But neither is Sheldon. I don't know what happened between you two just now, but I can see where you, but also Sheldon is coming from" she continued on.

"So what are you saying Penny? Do you think I made a mistake by breaking up with him?" Amy asked, looking straight at her friends face, hoping to find an answer in there.

"I don't know Amy, I really don't."

"Maybe it was just a heat of the moment thing, because when I think back to everything you told me this morning, it seemed you two were in an amazing place, despite all that has happened between the both of you" Penny said.

"Let me ask you this, if you look back over all the years you've known Sheldon, do you love him?"

"Penny, how can I love a man that doesn't believe in relationships?"

"That's not an answer Amy, so I'll ask again. Do you love Sheldon?"

Amy had expected this question would need longer reconsideration, but before she knew it, she had already answered it.

"Yes."

"Of course you do, and Sheldon loves you too" Penny said, smiling down at her friend, who now was only confused by her confession just moments ago.

"Does he? Then why am I keep being pushed away by him when I try to be supportive during his moments of doubt or pain?" Amy asked.

"Consider this, if this terrible news of Mary never had happened, would you have doubted Sheldon's feelings for you?" Penny responded, surprised by her own logic.

"No, I don't think so. But the fact remains that it did happen, and Sheldon did say all those things to me, you were there" Amy said, trying to be logical herself.

"I know, and I'm not saying you should take him back right away. I think Sheldon needs to sort things out for himself, to figure out where you belong in his life." Penny said.

"Sheldon has shown you the man he can be, he just needs to learn to combine it with the rest of his life."

"So, what do I do now?" Amy asked, insecure about how to proceed from this point.

"Be there for him, let him know you hope everything works out for Mary, but let him come after that."

"He needs to do this at his own pace, and believe me, he will come back to you."

"Sounds a lot like your first plan, and that didn't work out so great" Amy said, full of doubt in her voice.

"That's not what I mean, I'm not telling you to stay away from Sheldon, I'm just saying let him deal with this on his own. Be supportive of him, but just as a friend."

"You know what, why don't you go home and just relax the rest of the night?"

"I'll ask Leonard to check in on Sheldon when he gets home from the university, and then we can meet up tomorrow night if you want?"

"Thank you Penny, you always come through for me. And I'm sorry about this morning, I probably scared you when I passed out" Amy said.

"You did, but I was relieved to see you were okay a few minutes later, so don't worry about it" Penny replied.

Amy now had picked herself up enough to make it home safe, thanked Penny once more with a big hug, and headed home.

* * *

When Sheldon and Missy reached the room their mother was staying in, they noticed she had just finished a light meal.

Sheldon was still showing signs of the devastation after his call with Amy, which Mary picked up on immediately.

"Where were you Shelly, and what happened to you? You look worse than I do" Mary said.

When Missy noticed the tears started to appear again in her brothers eyes, she quickly filled her mother in about everything Sheldon had told her.

"Oh Sheldon, come here" she said, stretching her arms out, waiting for him to honor the request.

"I am ok Mom..." Sheldon said, not moving from the place he was standing, ignoring her suggestion.

"Why did you say those things to Amy?"

"I told you yesterday you could talk to Amy about anything, and now you go and do something like this?" Mary asked.

"I already feel bad enough about it, can we please just stop talking about it?" Sheldon replied, now sitting down on one of the empty chairs.

"I'm not trying to make you feel bad Honey, I'm just trying to understand why you said those words to her."

Sheldon had thought about that same question from the moment he boarded the plane, to right up this moment.

He just couldn't explain it to himself.

"I don't know, it just came out."

"I panicked when I heard the news from Penny, and when I couldn't reach you Missy, I was starting to think the worst, and just stopped thinking rationally" Sheldon said, looking down at the floor.

"Remember what advice I gave you yesterday?" Mary said.

"Of course I do, you told me to talk to Amy when something was bothering me. But look where it's gotten me, gotten us" Sheldon replied.

"I've hurt Amy, I destroyed everything we had between us. It's over, she said so herself."

"I'm not going to lie to you Sheldon, yes you have hurt her feelings" his mother said in calm voice.

"And you will have to make it up to her in a big way, sorry won't suffice this time."

"But if you love her, which you clearly do, it's worth fighting for" she continued.

"But what if it fails Mom? What if she can't forgive me? I can't even forgive myself" Sheldon said, who was now sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Sheldon, will you do me a favor?" Mary asked.

"Of course I do Mom, you know I will" he replied.

"Then go get her back, right now."

* * *

**I want to thank everyone who keeps giving me feedback through the reviews, it means the world to me that you all care as much about Sheldon & Amy as I do.**


	19. Chapter 19

Sheldon didn't return home right away after his mother's request. The doctors decided she could return home later that night, after none of the test results had shown any indicator that anything was seriously wrong.

When Missy had driven all three of them back to Mary's house, she and Sheldon decided that Missy would be staying there for the rest of the week, making sure their mother would take the necessary rest, as had been suggested by the doctor that had visited them just before they left the hospital.

As it was already getting late, and he and Missy were extremely tired after the day they had, he decided to stay for the night, and fly back the following morning.

After he made the bed that was still in his old room, and he waited until his mother was sound asleep, he turned in himself.

Before he closed his eyes, he quickly send a text message to Leonard, letting him know he would be home tomorrow afternoon.

When he woke up early the next morning, he took a quick shower and headed down to make breakfast for all three of them.

When finished, he brought it towards his mother's room, seeing that Missy had fallen asleep there, curled up in one of the chairs.

After carefully waking both of them, they shared the food and drinks Sheldon had prepared.

Half an hour later, Missy said she would drive Sheldon to the airport, and then return home to clean up.

Sheldon said his goodbyes to his mother, giving her a gentle kiss, and then got in the car with his sister.

When they arrived at the airport in Houston, Sheldon got out of the car and grabbed his bag from the backseat.

He thanked Missy for her support during all that had happened, and told her to call him if anything happened.

Right after buying his ticket and checking in, he heard a voice coming from the speakers, announcing his flight back to Los Angeles had been delayed for just over an hour, which meant he would probably make it home just in time for dinner.

This gave him some time to think over the words his mother said to him yesterday, before coming home.

_Then go get her back, right now._

He wanted nothing more than to do just that, but how was he going to accomplish that? He felt his life was currently one endless emotional series of events, which he shamefully had to admit, were set in motion only by himself.

He couldn't blame Amy for her actions anymore, even though he had tried to do so. But this wasn't her fault, it was his. He had said those words, he had been selfish in his actions yesterday morning and yes, he had pushed her away from him.

When they announced that the plane was ready for boarding, he slowly walked over to the gate, and got on.

After the plane started taxiing towards the runway, he noticed both seats next to him were empty.

He thought back on his flight yesterday morning, and he now remembered the kind words Lily had spoken to him. He had been grateful for her being there, even though she didn't know him, she had comforted him in a way no one ever could.

Well except a few exceptions, being his mother, his Meemaw and…

When the plane had landed after a rather boring flight, during which he spent most of the time with his eyes closed, listening to some lecture coming from his phone through ear speakers, he moved as quickly as he could through the customs.

Luckily his bag was one of the first to appear, and after he exited the airport, he decided to take the bus home this time.

He was now walking the last couple of hundred yards to his apartment building, when he saw a familiar car parking in front of that same building.

When he saw her getting out, he wanted to drop everything, run to her and beg her for forgiveness.

But what would he say to Amy? Nothing came to him, so he could only wait and watch her enter the building, while trying to hide himself so she wouldn't spot him.

His only hope now was that she would go over to Penny's, not to his apartment. His heart would break even more, not that he didn't deserve it though, he thought to himself.

When a few minutes had passed since Amy had entered the building on the Los Robles Avenue, he also walked inside, carefully listening if her could hear her voice in either apartment when he reached the correct floor.

After a short time, he was relieved to clearly hear Penny talking to her in 4b, and he immediately grabbed his key and entered his own apartment, locking the door behind him.

* * *

Leonard obviously knew what had happened between Sheldon and Amy, since Penny had informed him.

This time however, she hadn't done it out of a base desire to gossip, she had told him because she was worried about how Sheldon would handle this break up, if he could handle it at all.

When Sheldon had walked into their apartment, Leonard had just finished making a plate from the take out he picked up after he finished working at the University.

"Hi Sheldon, glad to see you home again" he said, as he sat down in his usual chair.

"Care to join me, I brought enough for two."

"Thank you Leonard, much appreciated" Sheldon said, after hanging up his coat.

"So I guess your Mom is all right then, seeing you back here?" Leonard asked, nervous to ask about how he felt about his situation with Amy.

"Yes, thank you for asking. They couldn't find anything wrong with her, so they send her home."

"She does have to take it very easy this next week, just to make sure she gets plenty of rest" Sheldon continued.

"So Missy decided to stay with her for the next couple of days, since she lives nearby anyway, and usually stays home with the baby."

"Glad to hear that Sheldon, we were all very worried about her…and you" Leonard said, cautiously looking over to his best friend.

"You…you want to talk about what happened between you and Amy?" he finally asked, realizing this topic shouldn't be left unspoken.

"There isn't much to say about it Leonard, we had a perfect thing going on, Sunday night was the best night of my life. And then I ruined it all" he said, after putting down his plate and letting him fall back in his spot.

"Yeah, I heard about what went on between you and Amy Sunday night, did you two really shower together?" Leonard had to ask.

"You…you know about that? How did you find out about that?"

"Well…after you left yesterday morning, Amy told Penny about what happened between you two over the last few weeks" Leonard said honestly.

"And the scattered clothes on the bathroom floor were another give away" he said, giving Sheldon a little wink.

"But that was only because Penny was trying to cheer her up, since Amy was really upset about what happened, and her passing out and all" he said, quickly realizing that Sheldon didn't know that yet.

"She…she passed out?" Sheldon asked worried.

"Yes, I'm afraid she did Sheldon. Whatever you said to Amy it really hurt her" Leonard replied.

"She took a nasty fall, but she wasn't hurt physically, Penny stayed with her while I went looking for you."

"What have I done Leonard? I can't believe I did and caused all those things" Sheldon said, staring straight in front of him, not focused on anything in particular.

"Do you think there is any chance I can make it up to her? My mother said I should go get her back, and I want to. I just don't know how" he continued on.

"I think there is Sheldon, based on what I heard from Penny, Amy enjoyed that last night together as well, and Penny told me you two looked very cute together in your bed" Leonard replied.

"But you better come up with something good, a simple apology isn't going to be enough."

"Yeah, that is the general consensus, and I can only agree with that" Sheldon said feeling even worse than before, realizing the truth in those words.

"Well, thank you for the advice anyway Leonard. I'm going to take a shower and then I'm turning in early. I want to arrive early tomorrow at work, I have a lot of catching up to do" he said, followed by him standing up, and walking towards the bathroom.

"Good night Sheldon" Leonard said, as he turned on the television.

* * *

Amy also decided to start early the following morning, since she didn't want another scolding from Siebert, and also catch on some of the work she had not been able to finish the day before.

Last night she had spent a traditional girl's night at Penny's apartment, Bernadette had arrived shortly after herself.

Both Penny and Bernadette tried to take Amy's mind of her break up with Sheldon, but no matter what they tried, Amy seemed not really there.

She had emptied two glasses of wine, which resulted in her loosening up a little, and she had occasionally joined her two girlfriends in some silly talks about random, unimportant things.

She hadn't slept much last night, even though she had been tired, mostly mentally.

After staring at the ceiling of her bedroom for some time, she finally drifted off into a restless, and luckily dreamless sleep. She had been afraid that Sheldon would appear in her dreams again, like he had done before after their first night together.

She had decided not to run any new tests today, she still had a back log of results and brain specimen to work through.

This kept her busy for most of the day, until she was getting hungry and instantly was reminded of the fact that she usually had lunch with Sheldon ever since she started working at Cal-Tech.

She considered if she should still go to the cafeteria, and take the risk of running in to Sheldon, or just stay in her lab and eat alone.

After thinking about it, she knew she had to take the risk someday, she wouldn't be able to avoid Sheldon forever, nor did she want to.

_Be there as a friend for him._

Penny's suggestion was probably easier said than done, but she knew it was a valid idea.

Not only that, she wanted to be there for Sheldon, despite the hurtful words he had said to her.

When she walked into the common lunch area, she spotted Leonard, Howard and Raj right away.

The fourth spot was empty.

She couldn't tell if this was a relief to her or not.

"Hi guys, glad to see you all" Amy said, as she approached the table.

"Hello Amy" all three said quietly, giving Amy an uncomfortable look as she sat down next to Leonard.

"I guess you all heard, based on your expressions" she said calmly.

"Yeah we did" Howard said.

"How are you doing with it all Amy?" Raj asked with a concerned tone of voice.

"I'm coping, it's not easy at all, but I just have to make it through somehow" she responded.

"Where is Sheldon anyway? I thought for sure he would be here" Amy asked, making use of the silence that had fallen between them.

"He decided to take a quick bite to eat in between work, he regretted missing a day's work" Leonard said.

"That guy really needs to sort out his priorities, work isn't everything, especially when your mother is in the hospital" Raj chimed in.

The rest of the lunch was spent mostly in silence, the group enjoying their lunches.

When Amy returned to her lab, she continued where she had left off, and doing so she lost track of time.

When she heard a knock on the closed door of the lab, she looked up and noticed it was almost 5:30 and decided to call it a night.

When she quickly grabbed her coat, she answered the door.

No one there.

Looking down the hallway, she also didn't see anyone.

When she turned around to lock the door, it finally caught her eye.

A single red rose was cleverly attached to the door, with a little note near it.

After taking down the rose and the note, she read what was written on it.

_Look around and follow me_

_I will lead you to your destiny_


	20. Chapter 20

**Before starting this next chapter, I want to give a special thanks to Raamaa. You gave me some great feedback after the previous chapter. So thank you for sharing your views with me.**

* * *

When Sheldon had woken up that Tuesday morning, he felt oddly well rested. He had expected to have a long night, mostly awake.

But clearly he had drifted off to sleep very fast, much to his own relief.

After completing his morning rituals in the bathroom, he returned to his bedroom.

When he had put on a fresh set of clothes, he noticed he still hadn't unpacked his bag, which he had thrown aside after coming home yesterday.

When he had taken out everything but the cloths he had brought with him, he picked them up from the bag and walked again to the bathroom to deposit them in the basket where they collected the dirty laundry.

Just after he threw the cloths down in the basket, he saw a small envelope dropping to the floor.

"What? Where is that coming from"? He said to himself, not remembering it being in there when he packed his bag yesterday at his mother's house.

He quickly picked it up, and hurried back towards his bedroom and closed the door behind him.

At first he sat down on his bed, which once again was folded open neatly, just like he always did.

He just stared at the envelope in his hand, not daring to open it right away.

Carefully he examined the piece of paper he was holding in his hand, realizing there was something irregular shaped inside, as could be seen clearly even without opening it.

No longer capable of not knowing what was inside it, he threw the door of his bedroom open, and upon reaching his desk, grabbed the letter opener.

In one swift motion he cut through the top of the envelope, revealing a letter inside.

With a hint of hesitation he slowly pulled it out, and unfolded the letter.

After reading the first few words, he immediately knew who it was from:

_Shelly_

_I am writing this after you've finally fallen asleep. I want you to know that I couldn't be more proud of you, and I love that you are my brother._

_I know I've always teased you growing up, but that's only because I cared for you, and I still do. You left everything behind when you heard something was wrong with Mom, and came straight home to take care of her. But in doing so, you left your whole life behind, including someone who truly loves you, even if you don't realize it yourself just yet._

_Before you met Amy, it wouldn't have mattered to you, since you had no connections to other people beyond us, your family._

_But now you do, you have an amazing group of friends who all care about you deeply._

_But most of all you have her, and nothing can compare to that, not me, your little nephew or even Mom._

_You're probably shaking your head now, still in denial. I know you blame yourself for everything that has happened, and maybe you should._

_But don't linger on that for too long, it will only make things harder on yourself. You have to forgive yourself, and you'll see that Amy will do too._

_I left a little gift for you in the envelope, along with this letter._

_It's something that was given to me some time ago, and I want you to have it now._

_You will recognize it when you see it._

_It gave me strength during the hardest times of my life, and I can only hope that it will do for you as well._

_So please Sheldon, stop living in the past, and start focusing on your future again. You cannot undo what you did, but you can start to rebuild what has been broken down._

_It will take time, but you know it will be worth it._

_You are worth it._

_Amy is worth it._

_Your loving Sister_

When he had finished reading the letter, tears started to fall down on it. She's proud of me? How can she be proud of me?

He had to read the letter again, before it would become unreadable from the teardrops still falling down on it from time to time.

After reading it again, he walked over to his usual spot on the couch, and let himself fall down into it, throwing the letter down on the coffee table, but still clutching on to the envelope.

His mind started wondering what could be inside it, which Missy now wanted him to have.

He took a deep breath and looked inside.

His jaw just dropped when he noticed the little item inside, carefully picking it up. It's something he always had seen growing up, and he knew the importance of it to other members of his family.

But he had never thought it would one day come in to his possession.

What had Missy meant by giving him this? It had given her strength in the past?

As he sat there contemplating the meaning of both the gift and his sisters words, Leonard walked into the living room, seeing his best friend in a state of confusion.

* * *

"Sheldon?"

"Are you all right?" Leonard asked, stopping as he entered the living room.

"No I'm not" his roommate replied, trying to wipe away the tears that were still coming from his eyes.

"What's going on? Last night you seemed to be reasonably okay, considering the situation" Leonard said, now sitting down next to Sheldon.

"You should read that letter" Sheldon said, pointing towards the piece of paper on the table in front of them.

Leonard slowly picked up the letter Missy wrote, not taking his eyes of Sheldon. After carefully reading every word written down on it, he sat there for a minute, thinking about the impact it must have had on Sheldon.

"So, what did she sent you, besides the letter that is?" Leonard asked, not capable of hiding the curious tone in his voice.

Sheldon slowly turned towards him, and opened up his hand, which had been clutching the small item from the envelope.

However, he gave Leonard only a few seconds to study the object, before putting it away in the envelope again, and placing it on the table.

"Is that…what I think it is?" he could only ask, shocked by the revelation.

"I guess it means a lot to you all?" Leonard posed the question.

"It never meant that much to me personally, but I've always respected what it represents though" Sheldon replied strangely calm.

"So, have you made up your mind about Amy, and if you want to try and get her back?" Leonard asked, surprised once again by the change in Sheldon. Maybe it really had given him some strength, the strength to control his feelings for now.

"No I haven't Leonard, but I do know I need to talk to her, apologize for my behavior" Sheldon replied.

"But before I do, I'll have some errands to run this afternoon, so I won't be able to join you for lunch" he explained.

"So if you see Amy there, please don't tell her about that I want to talk to her. I need to do this on my own" Sheldon continued, showing a little twinkle in his eyes.

"All right…" Leonard promised, not sure how he felt about Sheldon's expression just now.

"What? You think that's a mistake?" Sheldon asked, confused by his friends reaction.

"No. No I don't think it's a mistake at all to talk to Amy about all that has happened since you heard the news about your mother" Leonard said.

"But you have to realize that there is a chance, that Amy won't accept your apology Sheldon. I know you two talked things through before, but it's possible that it's not going to be enough this time."

"I know that Leonard, but I have to do something. I can't live with knowing what I did, and not being able to at least try to apologize. I have to!" he now said in a louder voice.

"Wow, she's really has gotten to you, didn't she?" Leonard said, showing of a little smile.

"I agree though, if that's how you really feel, you have to at least try it" he continued.

"I can now see why Missy is so proud of you, you really have come a long way in all those years I've known you."

"Thanks…I guess" Sheldon responded, unsure how else to respond to that statement from him.

After both Leonard and Sheldon had shared breakfast together, Leonard retreated to get ready for work, and soon after, they both left the apartment, heading towards the University.

* * *

Amy stood frozen in front of her lab, after taking down the rose and the accompanying note.

She had no doubts the tokens were from Sheldon, and she actually felt a little flattered by the rose.

But the note was what troubling her.

My destiny? What was that all about?

And how could she follow a rose, that clue she didn't understand.

After putting away the note in one of the pockets of her coat, she started walking down the hallway, just as she always did when walking towards her car.

When she turned a corner, she spotted a 2nd rose near the end of this corridor, and hurried towards it.

No note this time though, just a single red rose.

Amy was now starting to feel excited by all of this, even though she still wondered where it would lead her. Sheldon hadn't tried to contact her after their last conversation over the phone, and neither had she.

She actually had started to miss him, and the bold question from Penny last night had been in the back of her mind all day long.

_Do you love Sheldon?_

She had been surprised by her rapid response, but was even more surprised by Penny's statement as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

And the rest of her best friends points she hadn't really been able to refute either, which was now starting to make her think that Penny might be right after all.

"I do love Sheldon, and he does love me too" she said out loud to herself, all the while continuing walking down the hallways, picking up rose after rose.

After Amy had wondered around the building where her office and lab were located in, she had found over a dozen roses, which she held close to her chest, as if it was they were the most precious item to her she had ever had.

Before she knew it, she realized she was back at the place where she had started half an hour ago, her lab.

This is where she found the last rose, and after picking it up, she started looking around, hoping she would see his face. No sign of Sheldon though.

When she walked back inside, quickly she realized she hadn't locked the office before she had taken off.

The room was now lit up by several candles, strategically placed to distribute the light as evenly as possible.

"A true Sheldon Cooper way" she said to herself, smiling happily.

When she started looking around even more, she noticed a piece of paper, neatly folded on her desk.

After picking it up, she quickly opened it and read what was written on it, she had to sit down in her desk chair.

**_Application for a marriage license_**

After a minute of letting this all sink in, she slowly stood up, and felt she wasn't alone anymore in her lab.

When she turned towards the door, she saw Sheldon standing there, holding an old wedding ring in his hands.


	21. Chapter 21

_This is it Sheldon. You only have one chance to do this right. You have to do it right._

Those were the only thoughts going through his mind as he stood in Amy's lab, directly in front of her.

The ring he was holding had been is his family for a long time. As a kid he had seen it on the finger of his Meemaw, but never understood its significance.

He knew it meant the world to her, but he never figured out why. Until now.

After taking a step closer to Amy, who was now standing next to her desk, still holding on to the paper he had placed on her desk just after he had seen her leave the lab, he knew it was time.

"Amy Fa…" was all he could say before Amy rushed over to him, and placed a finger over his lips.

This stopped him from continuing on, and left him in a state of confusion.

"No" Amy said in a strangely soothing tone.

"N…no?" he stuttered in response.

"No" she said, giving him a little smile as she stepped closer to him, and taking hold of his hands.

"I don't want you to ask me, not now" Amy continued.

"But…it's important that you know where you belong in my life" Sheldon said, struggling to contain his emotions.

"When I left you standing there in the apartment yesterday morning, all I could think about was getting home to my mother, to be with my family."

"And when I talked to you on the phone from the hospital, I was torn apart inside, I could not handle all that was happening. And I've hurt you in the process" he continued, feeling the warmth coming from her hands, which calmed him down.

"I knew I wanted to make things right with you the moment I stepped on the plane, I had ruined the best night of my life, by pushing you away, when all you tried to do is be there for me."

"Sheldon, nothing could ruin that night for me, it was the best night of my life too" Amy interrupted him, to give him a moment to catch his breath.

"But what made you think proposing to me is going to solve the issues we have?" she had to ask, still not understanding where this was coming from.

"It only came to me this morning, when I found a letter from Missy hidden in my bag. She wrote about what family means to me, and how I left my entire life behind in coming to be with my Mom, and her."

"That's when I realized I don't want to live a single day without you anymore Amy, you are a part of my family now, and I wanted to make it official."

"Oh Sheldon…" Amy said, now starting to feel her emotions spinning out of control as well.

"That's the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me" she continued on, as a single tear came down her face.

"So can you at least forgive me, Amy?" Sheldon asked, as he moved his hand to wipe away the tear from her face, retreating at the last second.

"I understand that we are over, and I can understand that you want nothing more to do with me after how I treated you" he said.

"But I can't live with the fact knowing you are still hurting because of my actions."

"Sheldon, we are not over" Amy said, as she took him by the hands once again.

"I meant most of what I said when you called me, that you needed to find out where I belong in your life"

"But it was wrong of me to do that over the phone, but I was overcome with anger and frustration at that moment, it just came out" Amy continued, keeping her eyes locked on Sheldon.

"I should have waited until you've gotten home, and talk things out with you, as we are doing right now. For that I am sorry."

"Amy, don't say sorry. I don't deserve that" Sheldon said, as he felt a tear fall down his face too.

"You were right in calling me selfish, and that in doing so, I pushed you away from me."

"I wish I could undo everything that happened between us yesterday, but I can't" Sheldon continued.

"After all those years of not caring about finding that special someone, I finally found you. And now I have managed to ruin the best thing of my life, and hurt the only woman I truly love."

* * *

If anyone had walked in at that very moment, they couldn't have figured out who was more shocked by that confession.

As soon as Sheldon had spoken those words, Amy's hand immediately went up to her mouth, in a failed attempt to hide her surprise. She couldn't believe Sheldon, the man she had been dating for over 3 years now, had just said he loved her.

Penny was right about him, she had known it all along, and Sheldon did love her, Amy Farrah Fowler.

Love must really be a thin veil, clouding someone's mind, causing you to miss all those little details that are so obvious for others.

But sometimes that veil is lifted up, and all that remains is true, uncompromising love. Nothing hidden anymore, everything is right there in front of you.

That's what happened for Amy when Sheldon had spoken those words.

Amy was now starting to tremble lightly, as her mind was still adjusting to this whole new world, waiting for her to be explored. And then it finally hit her.

She wasn't going to be exploring this world alone. He would be there, right by her side.

Sheldon on the other hand, although being shocked by his own sudden outburst, wasn't trying to hide any of his emotions. He had done that for far too long he realized, and it was time to let it all out.

It had felt good to come clean to Amy about everything he had been feeling since Penny told him his mother had been taken to the hospital, telling her about Missy's letter and where he pictured Amy in his life.

She is family. She really is.

When he had found the ring in the envelope his sister had hidden in his bag, he knew what he wanted to do. However when Leonard had walked in and eventually had read the letter and seen what else Missy had send him, he realized he had to keep his intentions of proposing hidden from him.

This was something that was something only for Amy and himself to know, as much as he loves Leonard, he had to keep it from him, at least for a little while.

But none of that mattered anymore, Amy had said no. As he was thinking back to the start of this moment, he realized Amy had said something else, which he didn't pick up on at that time.

She hadn't just said no, she had said not to ask her now…which was shortly followed by her revealing that they weren't over.

This made him smile, not only in his mind, but it also broke the tough exterior of his face, which never really had been allowed to show these kinds of signs to anyone. Anyone but Amy, she really was his exception to every rule he had created for himself.

* * *

"Amy" Sheldon spoke, now looking straight into her eyes.

"When you said that we aren't over, what does that mean?"

"I'm not sure Sheldon, I don't think we can go back to where we were before all this happened. I think we just need to take things slow, and start moving carefully forward" she said, returning his attempts of eye contact.

"You can't imagine how happy I am to hear you say that" Sheldon replied, still showing the smile on his face.

"I meant what I said to you though Amy, I never want to be apart from you anymore, but I know we have to start things slow again" he continued on.

"Do we…tell the others about all of this?" Sheldon asked, now thinking about how they would explain it all to the rest of their friends.

"No, we don't Sheldon. It's really none of their business" Amy replied, now too smiling widely.

"This is one thing that hasn't changed, what happens between us, stays between us."

"Thank you Amy" Sheldon said, now taking her hand, and slowly caressing it.

"I wouldn't have known how to deal with all of this coming out, being public knowledge in our little group of friends"

"You haven't told Leonard about it, right?" Amy asked in return, realizing that might be the weak link in this plan.

"Because if he knows, than Penny will know…"

"He does know I have the ring, but he doesn't know about my plan to propose, I left him thinking I didn't know what I was going to do" Sheldon said calmly.

"So, maybe I should keep the ring, so that he doesn't start asking questions about its whereabouts. Because as you said, he will tell Penny about me having a ring, and she will no doubt want to see it" he replied logically.

"Agreed" Amy said, giving him a little nod.

"But you better hang on to it, you might need it again" she continued, giving an obvious wink.

"You mean…"

"I mean…" Amy replied teasing.

"Not anytime soon, but yes, someday."

"Those are the most beautiful words I ever heard, you truly are an amazing woman Amy" Sheldon said.

"I guess we both know what to say, when it really needs to be said" Amy said.

"Shall we get out of here, or do you want to stay for a while longer?" Sheldon asked, enjoying the view of Amy, who looked amazing in the glow of the candles.

"Sheldon?"

"Yes Amy?" he replied, unsure about her expression, which was now abundantly clear on her face.

"Stop talking, and just kiss me!"


	22. Chapter 22

The next few weeks passed by surprisingly fast for both Amy and Sheldon. After returning to Amy's apartment from the University, they decided to spend a quiet night together, ordering some take out and watching some episodes of Little House on the Prairie together.

Leonard, but especially Penny was curious on what was happening between Sheldon and Amy, and if they were a couple again or not after Sheldon had returned home from Texas.

Leonard had told Penny about what had happened between him and Sheldon, from the letter that Missy had given Sheldon, and after some consideration also about the ring.

That fact had freaked Penny out even more then he had expected, not just because she thought it was the sweetest thing Missy could have done, but also because she believed it would be a big mistake for Sheldon to propose to Amy. Especially knowing how things ended between them that Monday afternoon.

But after Sheldon had returned to his apartment later that Tuesday night, he had been calm, and at sometimes even happy. But what really threw her off was that Amy and Sheldon were once again actually enjoying each other's company these last couple of weeks, but not showing any big signs of affection towards each other.

They sat next together on the couch, but no handholding, nothing. It seemed as if they just were friends, who enjoyed spending time together.

She just didn't want to believe it, especially after how both Sheldon and Amy, but mostly Amy, had fooled her before after she had slept with Sheldon in the same bed for the first time.

But when she confronted both of them separately, neither one had confirmed or denied that they had resumed their relationship. She had been so sure that Sheldon would eventually spill the beans, he had never been one to keep secrets hidden for long.

Maybe there really wasn't anything going on, but a soft voice in her mind would always keep questioning that.

She needed to talk to Leonard about it, asking if he had noticed any signs to confirm what was going between Sheldon and Amy, one way or another. She knew Amy joined him and Sheldon regularly for lunch, maybe they had shown something there.

Since she had a late shift at the Cheesecake Factory today, Penny stopped by at Leonard's lab, noticing he was busy scribbling things down on one of his notepads.

"Hey Honey" she called, walking in without even knocking.

"Penny?" Leonard responded in surprise, seeing his gorgeous girlfriend standing in the door opening.

"What brings you here?" he asked.

"Oh, you know. I'm not working until tonight, so I thought I just stop by, to see what you're working on" she replied, looking around his lab.

"Of course you are" Leonard said, giving her a playful smile in return.

"What's that supposed to mean, you are an important part of my life, I am really interested in everything you do" she said, now looking at him again.

"Ok not really, I'm just confused about Sheldon and Amy" she confessed after hearing her obvious lie just now.

"What about them? I think they are doing just fine these last few weeks, considering what happened between them" Leonard said, now moving closer to her.

"It's just so hard to understand all of it" Penny said, trying to find the words to explain her feelings on this matter.

"First I get the call from Missy about her and Sheldon's mom. Then when I go tell Sheldon, I find him and Amy snuggled up in bed together. After informing him, Sheldon flips out, says terrible things to Amy which causes her to pass out. Later that day Amy shows up at my apartment and tells me she has broken up with Sheldon. The next day Sheldon comes home, talks to you and says he is going to try to make up with Amy. And most of all, he has a wedding ring!"

"So?" was all that Leonard could ask, not seeing what she was trying to tell him.

"So? So? How does that not freak you out? Don't you want to know every little detail what happened between Sheldon and Amy when he went to talk to her?" she said loudly, out of surprise by his attitude.

"I don't need to Penny. I have you for that" he said, now smiling widely at her, what caused her to get even angrier with him.

"Look, I was concerned about them, yes. But after talking to Sheldon that day he got home, I knew it would work out between them. They are very important to each other, and I just think that letting them work through it together, is the best way for now" he continued.

"I know you care about both of them deeply, and that is the real reason you want to know everything about them. But you just have to look at them Penny, and you can see it works for them."

"But, why can't they just tell us that, and just be together like any other couple?" Penny asked, now sitting down on one of the chairs.

"Because they aren't like any other couple Penny. You have to remember where both of them are coming from, this is all new to them. Neither of them has been in a serious relationship before, so there are going to be bumps along the way" Leonard said, now sitting down in the empty chair next to her.

"We can only be there for them if they want to, and I think they know that."

"I hate it when you talk so logical, it's just that I can't stand seeing them hurt, either one of them" Penny sighed, now resting her head on his shoulder.

"I do too, but that's over now, they are just enjoying each other's company again. I like to think that's an amazing turn of events, if you look back over the last few weeks" he said, giving her a little kiss on the top of her head and putting his arm around her.

* * *

Amy was now finishing up her addiction study at Caltech, and was preparing to go back to UCLA, unsure about what her next project is going to be. She hadn't been offered any new studies to work on, so she was thinking of starting her own research project.

She had always been interested in studying the effects of outside sources, such as alcohol, on test subjects, but after doing that for most of her career, she was wondering if she could look into a different part of her field, namely Aging-Related Disorders of the Nervous System.

This would require a complete different setup of her lab, and she would of course need to find the funds for it from any company interested in this.

With the help of Sheldon, who was the only one she had told about this wish of her, she had written a quite extensive report on her ideas for this study, and also what the requirements, both regarding funding and equipment, would be.

She had send it to several research companies that had previously supported these kinds of studies, but so far she hadn't gotten any real response, besides the standard notification that her report had been received.

She realized it was going to be a while before she would get any kind of response, if she would get any at all.

These kind of projects usually would require a lot of planning, and most of the time they had to be known well in advance before a year started, so funds could be made available for it.

Because of that, her expectations were really low.

But that was not the only thing on her mind. She had also been looking forward to tonight, since it was date night for her and Sheldon.

While they had been playing it cool when around the rest of the group, they both enjoyed the privacy of these scheduled evenings. Although both of them had agreed to take things slow, it had proven impossible to forget that night in Sheldon's apartment before he left for Texas.

It had haunted both of their dreams, but neither of them had spoken about it, until Amy had brought it up casually during last week's Date Night is apartment 4a. She had carefully told him how she missed that kind of intimacy between them, and that she was willing to start working towards that again.

But tonight they had agreed to meet in her own apartment, which now left Amy nervous, because she didn't know what Sheldon would be expecting to happen.

Sheldon arrived right on time, as he always did. After she had invited him in, he noticed that unlike their usual Date Nights, she wasn't preparing his favorite meal.

After they had finished eating together, they both moved to the couch, and when Amy reached for the remote control of the television, Sheldon stopped her.

"Amy, I must admit I've been thinking about what you said last week, about us working on being intimate together again" he said nervously.

"You know I would want nothing more, but I'm scared about it all, not the actual intimacy, but rather that something bad is going to happen afterwards, just like it did last time" Sheldon continued.

"Sheldon, that was pure coincidence, it had nothing to do with what happened between us" Amy replied, gently caressing Sheldon's hand, which was resting on his knee.

"Besides, your Mother is fine now. She has gotten two checkups since she was released from the hospital, and everything was all right" she said, now slowly moving her hand up and down his leg.

"What if we just sleep together here, but nothing more? We won't kiss, no dancing and we both take separate showers. We will just spend the night together in my bed" Amy told him, now seeing he was looking into her eyes.

"We did that before, and everything turned out great last time we did that here, remember?"

"Yes, I do Amy" Sheldon replied, smiling as his mind brought him back to that night.

"However, you are wrong on one thing though" he said, still lost in her eyes.

"I am? What am I wrong about then?" Amy asked, puzzled as to what mistake she made.

"We did kiss that night, twice actually" he said.

"You're right Sheldon, we did do that" Amy replied, now smiling too.

"I see we have no other choice then to that as well" she said teasingly.

After that both of them sat together watching some television, until Amy mentioned it was time to go to bed. They had agreed that Amy would shower first, and Sheldon would follow after her.

So while Amy was in the shower, he cleared the table and when he saw Amy dressed in her bathrobe walking towards her bedroom, he went towards the bathroom.

When Sheldon was also done showering, he noticed Amy had taken his pajama's out of the bag he had left here and placed on the small table in her bathroom, so he quickly changed into it before meeting Amy in her bedroom.

When he walked into her bedroom, and closed the door behind him without thinking, he noticed Amy was already in bed, eagerly looking towards him.

"I see you made yourself comfortable" he said, smiling down at the sight before him.

"It is comfortable" she agreed. "But I was waiting for you, hoping to turn it into a more intimate setting."

"That sounds promising" Sheldon replied, hurrying down to the other side, and quickly joined her under the blankets.

Right after Sheldon had gotten in, they both turned on their sides, looking straight at each other.

They were now only inches away from each other, as Amy closed the final gap.

In a tender, yet forceful way she kissed him, placing her hand on the back of his neck, as if to keep him from moving away. Sheldon responded right away, returning the lip movements, and softly moving his tongue over her bottom lip. This lead to Amy opening her mouth a little more, and before long her tongue met his.

Surprised by how this felt, Sheldon unintentionally broke away from the kiss, but remained close to her, gasping for air.

"That was something new" he said, staring straight into her eyes, which had been closed seconds before.

"Yes it was, I'm sorry if it freaked you out" Amy said with an apologetic tone in her voice.

"It did a little, but only because it felt so good" Sheldon replied.

"You liked it? That's good to hear, maybe we can repeat it someday?" was all she could ask.

"Most definitely" he said in a soothing way, giving her a little nod.

After that, they both agreed it was enough excitement for now, and they really needed to go to sleep.

Before long they were cuddled up together, just like they had woken up the last time they spend the night together, with Amy resting her head on Sheldon's shoulder.

* * *

The next morning they both performed their usual morning rituals, before sharing breakfast together and headed off to the University, as if it was the most normal start of a day for them.

When they had said their goodbyes to each other, and giving a quick kiss since no one was around they each went their own way to their respective offices.

The rest of the day past by in a blur for Amy, until shortly after her lunch, she got an e-mail invitation from President Siebert to meet him in his office at 4 p.m.

There was no additional info added in that request, so she quickly clicked accept, and returned to work, wondering what it could be about.

When she finally knocked on the door of his office later that afternoon, and heard a voice from the other side inviting her in, she quickly walked inside.

Much to her surprise, she didn't see only President Siebert sitting at his desk, but also a 2nd, much more familiar face.

Sheldon is here.


	23. Chapter 23

Amy didn't know what to think of what she was seeing right now. Sheldon was sitting across the desk from President Siebert, with an empty seat next to him.

And what surprised her even more, was that it appeared as if they actually had been talking on a professional, and also friendly level with each other.

This was something she never had expected, especially after seeing how both of them had interacted with each other from time to time. This had also been confirmed by Leonard and the other guys, Sheldon and Siebert never had gotten along before.

"Shel…I mean Dr. Cooper, what are you doing here?" Amy asked, as she sat down next to hear boyfriend.

"Good afternoon Dr. Fowler, glad you could make it on such short notice. I hope it didn't interfere with the final phase of your study?" Siebert asked.

"Oh yes, good afternoon President Siebert" Amy quickly said, hoping to recover from her not greeting him as she had entered his office.

"No, it didn't, I had finished most of the work I had planned for today already. I'm a little bit surprised by your invitation though, and seeing Dr. Cooper here startled me a little" she continued on, still showing signs of confusions as she kept moving her head from Sheldon to Siebert and back.

"Well the reason I've invited you here, is that I have read your report about the new study you want to start." Siebert replied, now holding on to the report she had written with the help of Sheldon, who just sat there quietly, observing Amy as the conversation went along.

"I must say, it's a fascinating subject to research, and normally the University would have gladly accepted your proposal to do that research here" he went on, now sharing a quick glance with Sheldon.

"However…" he started, before being interrupted by Amy.

"I see where this is going, and I can't say I'm surprised by it" she said, now feeling sad about what she had just heard.

"I do appreciate you took the time to read my report, and your words about finding it as fascinating as I do, do mean a lot to me" Amy continued, now feeling Sheldon's hand resting on hers.

This little sign of affection and support meant more to her then anything President Siebert could have said. Sheldon was actually here for her, and not afraid to show his affection for her in front of someone else, especially someone he never had gotten along with, until now as it seemed.

"Yes, you are right. We don't have the required funds available in your department to start this project, otherwise we would have responded much sooner to your submission" Siebert said.

"But then Dr. Cooper came to me earlier this week with a suggestion regarding your plans, that's why I've invited you here today" he continued on.

"So I'll let Dr. Cooper explain it to you, since he initiated this, and has spent much of his time on working out this additional plan and report" Siebert finally said, giving Sheldon a nod.

"Thank you President Siebert, I too appreciate you took the time to read both Dr. Fowler's and my own report regarding this study" Sheldon said calmly, now letting go of Amy's hand.

"As you are aware, several months ago, when I thought I had discovered a new stable super-heavy element, the National Science Foundation wanted to give me a grant because of that discovery" he continued, now turned towards Amy.

"But when Leonard had managed to disprove the Chinese team that supposedly had confirmed my findings a few weeks ago, I spoke to my contact at the Foundation, with the request for those funds to remain available for the University to use" Sheldon said.

"With some convincing from both myself and President Siebert, eventually they approved of this request."

"So when you told me that you hadn't gotten any positive responses on your proposal so far, I wrote a new report, and presented it to President Siebert. He then talked it over with the board of the University, and they just now approved of my request" Sheldon said, smiling proudly at Amy, whose mouth had fallen slightly open, amazed by all that she was hearing.

"Wh…what are you saying? I don't understand a single thing that's going on here" Amy asked, confused about all that Sheldon was trying to tell her.

"I asked the board to relocate the funding's from the physics department to the Neurobiology department, specifically to start your new study." Sheldon explained.

"And as I just told you, they have agreed to this."

Amy was now completely overcome with emotions, and even though she tried to stay strong, she could no longer control herself anymore.

Before she knew it, tears were already streaming down her face, and Sheldon quickly handed her several paper tissues from the pack he always carried with him.

"You...you did that all for me? And you kept it hidden from me?" Amy sobbed, but smiling back at Sheldon, who now had placed a hand on her cheek, wiping away the last remaining tears.

"Dr. Cooper made a convincing case about your significance for the University, but your results over the last few months since you joined us, really spoke for themselves" President Siebert interjected.

"So you could say it was a team effort from both of you together" he continued.

"So you better start preparing for your next study here, the funding's we have arranged for you will be enough to last you all year. Considering the magnitude of this research project, it could very well last for several years" Siebert said.

"And as a result, we also decided to give you a permanent position here, assuming you'll accept of course."

"Yes, yes I accept" Amy stuttered, having difficulty finding the words to say and express her feelings on these matters.

"Glad to hear, I'll have someone draft up the new contract, both for the new project, and also your own contract, which also has a slightly increased salary attached to it" Siebert said, before standing up from his chair, and holding out his hand, which Amy happily took as she and Sheldon both rose from their seats as well.

"I suggest you take the rest of day off, since it's already getting late anyway, and I think you can use this weekend to let it all sink in."

"Thank you President Siebert" Sheldon spoke on Amy's behalf, who couldn't utter a single word and simply nodded.

As they left the office, and headed back together towards Amy's office, to put away the last of the paperwork she had left lying there before she had come to the meeting.

This give Amy a chance to regain her self-control, and help Sheldon.

After all that had been done, Amy drove them to Sheldon's apartment and both of them just fell down on the couch, sitting in their usual spots.

When Leonard walked in an hour later, he noticed both Sheldon and Amy had drifted off, leaning against each other, Amy once again resting her head on Sheldon's shoulder.

* * *

He could not help but smile when he saw Sheldon and Amy lying there. It reminded him of the conversation he had with Penny earlier today in his lab, and that made him realize what he had to do.

Quietly he walked over to the apartment across the hall, opened it with his own key, and saw her sitting there, watching television.

"Penny" he whispered, realizing she had to leave for work shortly.

"Penny, come with me. I want to show you something" he said, now having her attention.

"What's up Leonard? Why are you whispering?" she asked, also talking in a softer voice than usual.

"Turn off the television and come with me" Leonard replied.

Reluctantly Penny did as she was told, grabbed her keys and followed him back to his apartment.

"There" he said, pointing towards the couch, where Sheldon and Amy were still sleeping.

"Do you remember what I told you earlier today, that you just have to look at them to know they are in a good place together?" Leonard asked, as Penny was taking in the scene before her eyes.

"I…I…I guess you are right" was all she could say, now smiling too.

"They really do belong together, I just needed to see it with my own eyes" Penny said, still whispering.

"I suggest we let them be, I'll write a quick note that I'll be staying at your place tonight. I don't want to disturb them, they need this" Leonard said, softly walking over to his desk to write the note, and placing it on the coffee table in front of his sleeping friends.

After that, Penny went to work at the Cheesecake Factory, unable to wipe the smile of her face as the mental image of Sheldon and Amy was branded in her mind.

Leonard decided he was going to the comic book store, and after that return to apartment 4b for a relaxing night until Penny would return home.

* * *

Amy was the first one to awake later that night, and when she looked around she noticed Sheldon was still sound asleep. She was still completely blown away by all she had learned today about her new project, that not only she had found a place to start that project, it had given her a permanent position at Caltech.

And all of that was thanks to the man who was sound asleep right next to her.

When she softly rose from the couch, she noticed and read the note Leonard had left for them, realizing they would have the apartment all night to themselves.

This only raised her spirit even more, thinking about all the possibilities for the rest of the evening.

As she walked to the kitchen, and took a quick look inside the cupboards to see what kind of food they had, she decided that this time she would make Sheldon's favorite, spaghetti with hotdogs cut up in it.

As she was preparing the meal as quiet as possible, she felt like she was floating all around the apartment. She never thought it was going to happen, but now she felt even happier than the last night she had spent here. Amy had never been that intimate with anyone before as she had on that night, but what she felt now, was something completely else.

She felt at ease here, it felt as if she was…home.

When the food was nearly ready, Sheldon slowly woke up and noticed Amy had also already prepared some plates in the kitchen, so that they could fill the plates there, and take them over to the couch.

"It looks great Amy" he said, as he approached her.

"Well, it's just my way of saying thanks for all you have done for me" she replied.

"You truly are an amazing man Sheldon Cooper."

"I still can't believe you stood up for me, and my desire to start this new project" Amy said, as she moved in closer, now standing only a feet away from him.

"I only told the truth, Amy. You are an asset to the University, and as President Siebert told you, your work has been excellent. So really, you were the deciding factor" Sheldon replied, blushing from the compliments Amy had given him.

"And I must admit, I like having you around at the University. It has made my days there much more enjoyable. It wouldn't be the same without you, I need you there" he continued on.

"So when I realized those funding's were still unused, I decided to take a chance and hope all parties involved would agree to donate the money to your new project."

Amy was now again close to tears, but this time she did manage to control herself, barely though.

She was thinking back to something Sheldon had said a few weeks ago, on that afternoon when he wanted to propose to her.

He couldn't live without her anymore, and he had just repeated that again, in his own words.

And now that she repeated those words in her mind again and again, suddenly she realized she wanted, no needed him to always be near too.

She couldn't spend another day apart from him anymore.

"Sheldon, I want to ask you something but I am unsure how to do it" Amy said nervously, pacing around the kitchen.

"What is it Amy?" Sheldon asked, as he moved to where she was, taking hold of her hand, which made her stop immediately, only a few inches from him.

"I…I…I want you to move in with me" she said, with a hopeful look into her eyes.

* * *

**I hope you all like where I am taking things with Amy regarding her career. It's something I had planned for a while, but I wanted to include Sheldon in it too, so I had to bring them back together first. So I hope you apreciate the direction I am taking with that part of the story.**


	24. Chapter 24

_I…I…I want you to move in with me_

* * *

When Sheldon had heard those words leave Amy's lips, his mind didn't know how to react. His body however did react, in a way he hadn't expected.

Without thinking, he let go of her hand and took a few paces back, with a confused look on his face.

"You…you want me to move in?" Sheldon asked, his eyes shooting all over the apartment, eventually resting on Amy again.

"Where is this coming from? I hope you're not asking me simply because you think I did a nice thing for you?" he continued.

"Actually, it has played a role in it Sheldon, but it's not the main reason why I asked you" Amy said, trying to stay calm, as she saw Sheldon was fiddling with his fingers on his t-shirt, as if he didn't know what else to do with them.

"I always wanted to live with you someday, especially after that night we had here some time ago" she admitted.

"But before I could ask you, everything went wrong, first with your Mother, and then…" Amy said, not wanting to say it as she didn't want to remind Sheldon, and herself again of that awful fall out between them.

"I felt the same back then Amy, I really wanted to be with you, and when we made up in your office a few weeks ago, I know I said I want to be with you all the time, and not live a single day apart from you" Sheldon said, now slowly taking a step towards her again.

"And I mean that, I still do" he continued on.

"Than what's wrong Sheldon, you seem not so sure about it as you are trying to let on?" Amy asked, not sure what to make of the mixed signals Sheldon was sending to her.

"I…I am just afraid that I am going to ruin everything again, and I don't want to hurt you anymore" Sheldon said, now looking down at the floor, avoiding Amy's eyes.

"Sheldon, we've been over this. I now know why you did what you did back then, and we have talked about it" Amy said, stepping closer to him, taking hold of both of his hands.

"It happened, yes. But we have moved past it, you have to let it go. I've forgiven you, it's time you forgive yourself" she continued.

"I know I have to Amy, and I really want to. It's just I can't get that little voice out of the back of my mind, it keeps reminding me" Sheldon said, still not able to look at his girlfriend, who was now standing very close to him.

Amy was now at a loss for words, so she did the only that came to her mind. Before Sheldon was fully aware of it, he felt her lips once again on his own, and immediately after that, all the voices in head were silent.

How did she always know what to do, and what he needed? This woman knows him better then he knows himself, which made him smile. That caused Amy to break off the kiss, now confused to his behavior.

"Sheldon?" she asked.

"Why are you smiling all of a sudden?"

"Because of you Amy, you always know what to do, and finally those doubts seem to have left my mind" he replied.

"So, what do think about my earlier question?" Amy asked, feeling confident enough to pose the question again.

"Would you like to move in with me?"

Sheldon took a moment, to catch his breath, still smiling as he looked at her.

"I would love to Amy, I do think we are ready for that step" he replied, now perfectly calm.

"So…I guess we are moving together?" Amy asked, almost jumping up and down, not capable of hiding her excitement.

"Yes, we really are" Sheldon replied, showing of the biggest smile Amy had ever seen on him.

As soon as he had spoken those words, they both leaped forward, throwing themselves at each other.

Before they both knew what really had happened, they were now lying down in the kitchen, kissing as if they hadn't seen each other for years.

After several minutes of rolling around on the floor, Sheldon eventually had to break away, gasping for air.

Both of them looked extremely content, but also were blushing all over because of what just happened between them.

When Sheldon helped Amy get up, she quickly rearranged her clothes, and moved towards the couch and sat down in her usual spot.

When Sheldon joined her a few minutes later, holding two cold bottles of water, he sat down next to her.

"I guess I'll have to go and tell Leonard now" Sheldon said, as he was still having trouble slowing his breathing down.

"I think that can wait until tomorrow" Amy said, smiling.

Just when Sheldon wanted to speak again, he heard a soft sound coming from the kitchen, and after a few seconds he recognized it as the bell of the timer. Apparently Amy had set it, as to be reminded when the food would be ready.

Sheldon quickly rose, happy with the distraction and made two plates of dinner. When he returned to the couch, once again he sat down in his spot, but this time he sat even closer to her, their upper legs were now in full contact.

After finishing their meals in silence, offering each other playful smiles from time to time, they finished watching a lecture of one of Amy's favorite Neurobiologists.

Since it was already getting late after that, Sheldon invited Amy to stay the night, and before long they were once again sharing a shower.

This time it was even better than the first time they had shared this very shower. This time Sheldon had not only used the shower head to wash her, he had actually used his hands to cover her chest and breasts with soap, insecure at first, but with help of Amy guiding him and telling him what she liked, he quickly became more confident.

Amy was glad they were all alone in the apartment now, because if either Penny or Leonard could have heard the sounds she made as Sheldon was touching her breasts again and again, they would never have believed it was her making those sounds. And she herself couldn't believe it too.

This went on for a while longer, and Amy was now returning the favor by washing Sheldon's chest the same way.

Sheldon was now starting to get aroused even more, which wasn't lost on either of them.

"Amy, I know you want more intimacy in our relationship, and I do too. I'm just not ready for the next step though, but I'm still working on it" he finally said with a disappointed look on his face, as Amy was still touching him, now massaging his shoulders, which were caught beneath the hot stream of water.

"I know that Sheldon, you don't have to apologize for that. You have made some big steps today, even right here in the shower" she said, giving him a wink.

After that they quickly dried each other off, which was an equally intimate moment between them, they changed into their night attire and moved towards Sheldon's bedroom.

As soon as they both had gotten in his bed, and kissed for a short moment, they turned off the bed lights and slept all the way through to morning.

* * *

After both of them had woken up extremely well rested, and spending some time just lying there, gazing at each other, they got out and changed into their regular cloths.

When they both had shared a perfect breakfast together, Leonard silently walked in, expecting them both to still be asleep.

"Good morning Leonard" Sheldon greeted his roommate.

"Hey you two, hope you both had a great night?" Leonard asked, giving them both a playful smile, the meaning of which wasn't lost on either of them.

"Yes, we had" Amy replied.

"And thank you for leaving us sleeping" she continued.

"What do you mean? You were here last night?" Sheldon asked Leonard, stepping a few paces towards him.

"Uh…yeah I did see you two sound asleep on the couch together, you looked very homely" Leonard admitted.

At that moment Sheldon and Amy shared a look, realizing Leonard's words reminded them both of the subject they wanted to talk to him about.

"Leonard, I need to tell you something" Sheldon said, inviting his best friend to sit down in his favorite chair.

"What is it Sheldon? I hope it isn't a bad thing, although by the look on both of your faces I don't think it is" Leonard asked, as he sat down in the chair Sheldon had pointed towards.

"No, it's a good thing, but it's also a big thing for you and me" Sheldon said, now sitting is his own place on the couch, turned slightly sideways.

"Last night, Amy asked me to move in with her, and I've said yes" he said, once again smiling, thinking back to the moment he had accepted her request yesterday evening.

"That's great Sheldon, I must say I'm bit surprised, but I'm very happy for you both" Leonard replied, now jumping from his chair and sitting down next to Sheldon, giving him a little nudge with his shoulder.

"I guess you must be excited too Amy" Leonard asked her, realizing she hadn't said much since he entered the apartment.

"I am, I can't describe how I'm feeling right now" she replied, now sitting down in the chair Leonard had just vacated, giving Sheldon a smile that showed her excitement about this next step in their relationship.

"But this will leave you alone in this apartment" Sheldon said, trying to calm himself down, even though he felt just as excited as Amy was still showing both him and Leonard.

"Yes, that's true. But I'm sure I can manage living here on my own" he said.

"And maybe after a while, Penny can move in here. It would actually make great sense, especially now that she has quit her job at the Cheesecake Factory" Leonard continued.

"Speaking of Penny, was she already up? I can't wait to tell her" Amy said.

"Yeah, she is actually. I tried leaving the apartment without waking her up, but that wasn't a success" Leonard smiled.

"Do you mind if I go over alone Sheldon? I prefer to tell her without either of you being there, I could use a little girl talk right about now" Amy said, already standing up and moving towards the hallway.

"Yeah, that's a good idea Amy, I'll just stay here with Leonard. We can use that time to catch up too" her boyfriend replied.

And with that, Amy left the apartment, leaving Sheldon and Leonard sitting next to each other, sharing a silent glance, both smiling widely.

* * *

**I'm very happy you all liked what Sheldon did for Amy in the previous chapter. So thank you for all the feedback, and please keep it coming. It means a lot to me to hear your opinions on it all.**


	25. Chapter 25

When Amy was invited into apartment 4b, she quickly entered. Penny was confused, not only by Amy's early appearance at her door, but also because of the way she acted.

Her best friend seemed to be full of energy, when she had opened the door, Amy couldn't stand still.

After they both had reached the living room, Penny walked straight on towards the kitchen, and started making some tea.

When she had finished making the beverages and walked back over towards Amy with the two cups, she noticed Amy still wasn't sitting down, but pacing somewhat nervously around the apartment.

"Amy, here have some tea, and please sit down. This walking around makes me dizzy" as she kept following Amy's movements.

"I am sorry" Amy said, now taking the drink from Penny's hands, and finally taking a seat in an empty chair, followed by Penny sitting down on the end of the couch, very close to Amy.

"What's going on that got you all riled up so early?" Penny asked.

"SHELDON IS MOVING IN WITH ME" Amy replied, blurting it out.

"What…where…what?" was all her blond friend could say, stunned by Amy's outburst.

"How did that happen all of a sudden?" Penny asked, still not fully understanding what Amy had just confessed.

"Simple, I asked him. After we talked about it, Sheldon agreed" Amy replied, a little bit calmer but still having trouble sitting still.

"We both are finally once again in a good place Penny, and I don't want to spend another minute without him, and Sheldon feels the same way about me" she continued, smiling at Penny.

"I…I just can't believe it" Penny said.

"You can't believe… what?" Amy asked, now starting to get confused about Penny's behavior.

"I can't believe you two beat me and Leonard to it. You're actually moving in together before we do!" Penny now said loudly, staring in amazement at Amy.

"Oh is that all?" Amy replied.

"I was afraid for a second that you think we are making a mistake" she continued.

"You're not thinking that, are you?" Amy now asked, unsure if she might have figured Penny's response out.

"No...no not at all. I saw how cute you both looked last night, sleeping together on the couch" Penny replied.

"I think I'm finally seeing what Leonard has been trying to tell me for so long."

"I just think it might be a bit fast, considering you two haven't been …you know, intimate together" Penny explained.

"If you mean that we haven't had sex yet, then yes Penny, you are correct in that" Amy said, nodding.

"But it's not as if nothing physical happened between Sheldon and me. Last night we shared a shower again, and let's just say that things got very interesting" she continued.

"Wow, Amy. That's hot!" Penny said, giving Amy a little smile.

"I know it probably isn't anything special for you, but for us doing something like that is extremely intimate. We both are still very new to all of this, so we need to take our time" Amy replied.

"I know that Amy, and as I said, I am now beginning to understand that I shouldn't compare what you two have with how I would handle things" Penny said.

"But aren't you afraid that when Sheldon has moved in, this might start speeding things up between you two, maybe start going at a speed that either of you is ready for?" she had to ask.

"I've actually thought about it, and I think we can now handle it together. As long as we keep talking about it to each other, we will be fine" Amy said, after which she took a gulp of the tea that had cooled down a lot.

"So I guess Sheldon is now telling it to Leonard as well? I wonder how he will take this news?" Penny asked, thinking about the possibilities this might offer them.

"Actually, we told him together just now, and he seemed to be happy for us" Amy said.

"He's still over there, talking to Sheldon, but I had to come here and tell you myself, I couldn't keep it in any longer."

"Anyway, I am going back over there, want to join me?" Amy now asked.

"It would be nice to spend the morning together over there, before Sheldon and I start packing up tomorrow" she said, already walking towards the door.

"Sure, let's go" Penny replied, before following Amy to apartment 4a.

* * *

When the two women walked into the apartment across the hall, both of them could see their boyfriends talking to each other, although not understanding what was happening.

Leonard and Sheldon were walking around the apartment, with Sheldon inspecting several items all around the living room, while Leonard was writing things down in a notebook.

"What are you two doing?" Amy asked, looking from Leonard to Sheldon, and eventually also to Penny, hoping she would understand what their boyfriends are doing.

"Isn't it obvious?" Sheldon replied.

"We are deciding who gets to keep the items we bought together, which it seems is pretty much almost everything here in the living room" he continued.

As Sheldon kept moving around the room, and discussing with Leonard several objects new possible home, he was now almost at the spot where Amy and Penny had been standing ever since they had walked in.

Without even thinking, Penny quickly leaped forward, and threw her arms around Sheldon, and leaning in against his chest as she gave him a big hug. This not only surprised Sheldon, but also Amy and Leonard.

"Penny? What are you doing?" Sheldon asked.

"I am happy for you, and for Amy as well. This is my way of congratulating you on this big step" she replied.

"And to let you know I'm actually going to miss you, it's not going to be the same without you living here."

"Yes, I too will have to do some re-adjusting to my life Penny" Sheldon said, now softly patting her on the back, trying to comfort her.

"I…I don't know what you mean by that" Penny said, still holding on to him but now looking up to his face.

"It's Sheldon's way of saying he will miss you too" Leonard explained.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Amy asked, seeing that Penny finally released Sheldon from her grasp.

"No not really, Leonard and I still have lot's to go over, before we can even start packing up my stuff" Sheldon said, already moving around the room again.

"I think I'll head home then, and start preparing for your arrival. I'll need to make some space for your items, cloths etc. so I might as well get started on that, while you and Leonard finish up here.

And with that said, Amy left the apartment, and headed home.

Sheldon and Leonard continued on for most of the morning, while Penny went back to her own apartment and finished breakfast.

* * *

When Amy returned to Sheldon and Leonard's apartment the next day half way through the morning, she was already carrying some empty boxes, still folded so that Sheldon could start packing up some of his belongings.

After carefully boxing up some of the items Sheldon and Leonard had agreed upon to go with him, and labelling the boxes as he did with everything, they all carried them towards Amy's car.

It would take several trips to move everything he was taking with him over to Amy's apartment, since they didn't feel the need to hire a moving van. Sheldon wasn't taking any of the furniture with him, not even the couch with his beloved spot was going with him, which Sheldon remained remarkably calm about, to the surprise of his friends.

"It's not about the couch, it was about the location of the spot in the apartment" Sheldon said, explaining it.

"So…I guess you have to find a new spot in our apartment then?" Amy asked, looking at her boyfriend.

"I thought I would too, but since I've spend several nights over there, I came to the conclusion that I don't need a designated spot anymore. I just need you to be there Amy, you now are the single point of consistency in my universe" Sheldon replied, smiling as he said those words while thinking back to when had spoken the same words about his spot several years ago.

"Sheldon" Amy said in a soft voice, overcome with emotions as she looked around and saw that Penny was also tearing up.

"Well I mean it Amy, you are the most important part of my life, and I just want everyone to know" he said, as he moved his stare from her towards Leonard, who was his only hope for not losing himself also in the emotions both Penny and Amy were showing right now.

"Wow Amy, you really have had a positive change on our little Shelly" Penny said, giving a teasing smile towards Sheldon.

"I don't know about that, I think he always had it in him to be honest" her best friend replied.

"Trust me, you have" Penny stated once again, which was confirmed by Sheldon and Leonard, both nodding in agreement.

* * *

The following week Amy finished up her work on her addiction study, and she would meet Sheldon, Penny and Leonard every night in apartment 4a. After sharing a meal with her friends, and talking about the events of the day, she would help Sheldon pack up more and more of his belongings and moving them to her apartment in Glendale, until that Friday he finally finished with packing.

"These really are the last boxes, aren't they?" Penny asked, sadness clearly present on her face as she saw Sheldon stack the final two boxes on each other near the front door.

"Yes they really are" Sheldon replied calmly.

"I must say, you are handling this move better than I thought you would Sheldon" Penny confessed.

"Much better than I am apparently" she continued.

"Well, it isn't easy for me" Sheldon said.

"But I am going to live with the woman I love, and no offense Leonard, but that made the move a lot easier for me" he went on, taking a long look around the room, taking hold of Amy's hand as he did.

"Sheldon, you always know the right thing to say, don't you" Amy said, staring at him, lost in his beautiful, sparkling blue eyes.

"Obviously" he replied, giving her a playful wink.

"I think it's time" Sheldon finally said.

"Yes, you two need to get going, you will have a lot of unpacking to do" Leonard said, as both he and Penny stepped closer towards their friends.

Just when Sheldon reached to pick up the top box, Leonard closed the last few feet between them, and gave his best friend a big hug, and not long after Penny and Amy joined them too.

They stood there for a few minutes in silence. Everything had been said between them, now all four enjoyed this final moment together.

When they finally broke off, Sheldon and Amy quickly picked up the two remaining boxes, walked out, and closed the door behind them.


	26. Chapter 26

"Good morning roommate" she said happily as she woke up, looking straight into his eyes, and him staring back at her.

"Good morning to you too" Sheldon replied as he moved in closer, and kissed her passionately.

It was still early on the Saturday morning, but the first rays of sunshine already started peeking through the window of their bedroom.

"So, how does it feel to have slept in our apartment for the first time?" Amy asked, still dreamily looking at her boyfriend, while she gently caressed his arm beneath the blanket.

"Well, it's not actually the first time I've slept here" Sheldon said, since he had slept in this very bed every day of this week. They both had been too tired after working a full day and moving his stuff over to this apartment, so they had agreed he would stay here afterwards.

"But I like the sound of OUR apartment Amy, I still can't believe we finally did that" he continued.

"Glad to hear it, I like it too" she replied.

"So, what are our plans for today?" Sheldon asked, now joining the movements of Amy's hands underneath the covers, where he slowly started touching her too, much to her delight.

"I think if we keep this up, we will be spending all day in bed" Amy said, as she felt Sheldon's hand softly brushing against one of her breasts, which caused her to smile and blush a little at the same time.

"You won't hear any complaints from me" he said, as he kissed her again, this time letting his tongue slip into her mouth, which was eagerly greeted by hers.

This kiss lingered on for several minutes, during which they completely lost themselves in their lust for each other.

Sheldon kept moving his hands under her nightgown, playing with both of Amy's breasts after they had broken off the kiss, and Amy became so overwhelmed by her state of arousal, that for now she had turned on her back, as Sheldon was lying right next to her on his side.

"Oh Sheldon" Amy moaned, as her body started reacting to his actions.

"Never stop doing that!" she said, unaware how loud those words had left her mouth.

After a little while, as Sheldon had moved in for another kiss, which surprised Amy because she had her eyes closed, she regained some form of self-control and felt the urge to take charge.

She sat up in their bed, quickly threw the covers half way towards the end of the bed, and pushed Sheldon down on his back. Before Sheldon realized what was happening, Amy was already sitting on top of him, one of her knees on either side of his body, and quickly pulled off her nightgown in one fluent motion.

He had only seen Amy like this a few times, once during the time Amy had been sick and he had given her a bath in this very apartment, and of course both times they had showered together in his former home.

Sheldon in response, now also overcome with desire, quickly unbuttoned his top half and threw it on the floor.

As Sheldon could see that Amy was getting more and more aroused, and Amy felt that Sheldon was as well.

"Well hello there Dr. Cooper" she said, as she leant down and kissed him hard, pushing him back into his pillow.

"Amy, I can't wait any longer" Sheldon whispered between his breaths.

"But I don't want to do this if you're not ready" he continued, still moving his hands all over her body.

"Who says I want to wait?" Amy smiled, looking down on him, as she started grinding against his body.

"But…but what about protection Amy, I don't want to get you in trouble right after our first time" he said with a concerned look on his face.

"Don't worry Sheldon, I started taking the pill some time ago. So you don't have to worry about that" Amy replied.

"And besides, we will be each other's first sexual partners, so you don't have to worry about the other thing that's bothering you" she continued, as she now sat down next to him.

"You thought about that…too?" he asked.

"Of course I did Sheldon. I've been thinking about this for some time now, and obviously these concerns have occurred to me too" Amy said, now showing a more serious look on her face, as she saw Sheldon lifting himself up, sitting close to her.

"That's why I took precautions, because I knew this would happen sooner or later" she went on.

"But if you want, we can talk about this first, and continue this some other time. We don't have to rush this, I want it to be special and enjoyable for both of us the first time."

"There is nothing more to say" Sheldon said, now letting himself fall down again on his pillow.

"Can we go back to where we were a few minutes ago?" he asked her, showing a nervous smile on his face.

Amy didn't need to hear that twice, and quickly returned to their former position, with her straddling him, to both of their delights.

Sheldon was still very aroused by all of this, as Amy could feel him pressing against her thigh as she was slowly moving her hips against his.

But her body was also very much aware of what was happening, as it showed clearly by her hardened nipples, which Sheldon found extremely fascinating.

Amy was now only wearing some underwear, while Sheldon still was wearing his pajama pants.

"Amy, I want to explore the rest of your body now" he stated, as he tried to sit up, which resulted in Amy moving back to her side of the bed.

"I want to do the same to you" she replied.

"But you are a bit overdressed for that to happen" Amy continued, giving him a wink that confirmed her intentions.

This wasn't lost on Sheldon, and within seconds, not only was the pants of his pajama on the floor, his boxer was as well.

Although Amy had seen Sheldon completely naked before, knowing was going to happen, caused her to pause, but not for long.

As she snapped out of it, she too quickly reached down the covers, and now they were in complete view of each other, nothing hidden anymore.

The covers of the bed had been pushed back towards the end of the bed now by Amy and Sheldon's latest actions, and they just kept staring at each other, covering every inch of the other's body with their eyes.

They both wanted to memorize this moment, branding it on to their brain.

Much to Amy's surprise, Sheldon was the first to react again, moving over to her side of the bed, hovering over her as she waited in ecstasy for what was to come.

"Amy, you are beautiful, you know that" Sheldon said, the lust burning in his eyes.

Before she had a chance to respond and catch her breath, Sheldon left hand was already moving over her body, slowly making circles on her skin with a finger, starting at her shoulder.

However, he didn't stay there for long, as he now moved once again over to her breast, repeating the movements , encircling first her full breast, and then slowly moving up towards her nipple.

When Amy saw Sheldon lowering his head again, she was preparing for another passionate kiss, but it never came.

This time however, she felt a new sensation, something she had never dreamed of feeling.

Sheldon has started moving his mouth over her other breast, completely enveloping the nipple with his lips and mouth.

She could feel his tongue making the same rotating movements as his hand was doing at the other breast.

This caused Amy almost to black out, but the hormones raging through her body kept it from actually happening.

When Sheldon pulled away a few minutes later, he quickly looked up towards Amy's face.

"How's that?" he asked unsure if he was reading her body language right.

"Oh Sheldon, there are no words to describe how I feel right now. You are amazing" she confirmed loudly, not capable of keeping anything in anymore.

"Good" was all he said, as he continued on, moving further down.

As he slowly started kissing her breasts again, his hand started exploring the rest of her body, moving inch by inch more towards her legs.

He quickly repositioned himself a little, and now he was fully focused on the hidden treasure between her legs, which were already a little apart.

Nervous at first, he started to caress her down there, making sure he kept track how Amy responded to every action he did, not only visually, but also by the sounds leaving her mouth, which he had grown to love over these last few minutes.

After he had found her clit, he started applying more pressure on it, which caused Amy to shudder beneath his touch.

_Fascinating! _Was all Sheldon could think as he kept moving his fingers over that specific spot of her body.

As he kept doing this, he looked up from time to time, noticing Amy had once again closed her eyes, and seemed completely lost in the moment, as he was too in his own way.

After a few more minutes, she shuddered even more, and as her body was riding out the wave of her orgasm, she finally collapsed again on the bed, breathing heavily.

"Sheldon…that was…wow" were the first words to leave her lips.

While Amy was still feeling her body enjoying the final moments of the explosion Sheldon had caused inside of her, Sheldon had moved closer to her, and kissed her with all the fire burning inside of him.

"Amy, I want you. Are you sure you want to go through with this?" he asked one final time, not fearing the answer anymore.

"Oh yes, I've never been so sure about anything" she replied, returning his stare with the same passion.

As Sheldon now was hovering completely above her, she could already feel him pressing against her.

Sheldon now seemed to focus on every little detail, as he slowly entered her for the first time. It was nothing like he had ever expected, all the research he had done before, including the book he had called infernal several times, hadn't prepared him for this.

When he pulled back, and re-entered her, carefully he moved in more and more as he repeated those moves, now again making sure how Amy was reacting, not wanting to hurt her.

As he noticed Amy was making similar sounds as before, with a slight variation to them, he continued what he was doing. Before he realized it himself, he was now fully inside of her, but still moving slowly in and out. It was all he could do to try to linger in this moment, as he didn't want to feel any different ever again.

He wasn't thinking anymore, he just let go off all the worries he had about being intimate with Amy, because he realized they had all been unfounded. Together they knew what to do, somehow it was working for them.

When after a few minutes, Sheldon had reached his orgasm to, he also fell to the side, gasping for air.

Now it was Amy's turn to look with pride towards him, just like he had done after they had stripped down completely.

"You…were…right…Amy" Sheldon finally spoke, as he eventually was capable of lifting himself up again, looking at the gorgeous sight before him.

"About what Sheldon?" Amy asked.

"We won't be leaving this bed all day" he simply replied, as he kissed her again.

* * *

**There, I hope you all liked that. I had thought about putting up a slight warning at the start of the chapter, but I wanted it to be a surprise, since it Sheldon and Amy's first time in this story. Please let me know by the feedback option what you thought about it.**


	27. Chapter 27

"_We won't be leaving this bed all day" he simply replied, as he kissed her again._

* * *

Sheldon had not completely spoken the truth just now, as they did leave the bed eventually.

After they both had recovered from their passionate first time in their bed, they had gotten out and spent some time showering on their own, after which they dressed up in simple bathrobes, as they didn't feel like going anywhere today.

For the rest of the morning, after enjoying a long breakfast together, during which they couldn't keep their eyes of each other, they simply cuddled up together on the couch as they watched some episodes of Little House on the Prairie.

But being so close to each other, it was difficult not to lose themselves again in the intimacy they both had enjoyed earlier this morning.

As one thing was leading to another, before long they ended up in the bedroom again, but this time it was Amy taking control of what was happening, which Sheldon didn't mind at all.

When they had finished their tumble between the sheets, they changed into their robes again, not bothering to shower once more.

Later that afternoon they got a call from Penny, asking how things were going and if they wanted to get together tomorrow afternoon, with the boys going paintballing, which would give the girls a chance to catch up.

After a quick discussion with Sheldon, Amy told her best friend they would be there around 2 p.m. and they both were looking forward to it.

When they talked about what they wanted to do this afternoon, since it was turning out to be a beautiful and sunny day, which reflected their mood perfectly, Amy and Sheldon both decided to get dressed and go for a long walk.

They had walked through the Glendale Galleria, before ending up strolling around the Glen Oaks Park, enjoying the day and each other as they held hands all the time, before settling on a bench which was located underneath some trees, giving them a little bit of privacy.

Before long they were kissing again, not able to keep their hands of each other, not minding that others might see them. When things started to heat up even more, they quickly made their way back home, preventing for anything more to happen in public.

On their way home they stopped at Sheldon's favorite Thai food restaurant, picking up the order he had phoned in a few minutes ago.

As they arrived home, the sun was already setting, leaving the apartment covered in twilight.

When Amy moved to turn the lights on, Sheldon stopped her, telling her to wait as she saw him moving to the closet standing in the living room, and taking out a few candles and placing them on their dining table, before lighting them.

Amy was now standing frozen just inside their apartment, as Sheldon moved around very focused, quickly setting the table.

He then moved to where Amy was still standing, holding on to the bags with the food, as he spoke.

"Amy, you might want to take your coat off and join me" he said, smiling at her, she looked gorgeous to him in the warm light of the candles.

As Sheldon took her glass and filled it with some white wine, and filled his with Yoo-hoo, they both sat down together. Silently they divided the food between them, staring into each other's eyes all the time.

When they had finished, Amy rose to clean the table, telling Sheldon to relax now, as he had already done enough for her, which he gratefully accepted and settled on the couch.

When she had finally finished, she quickly moved over to him, seeing he was eagerly waiting for her to join him. As soon as she sat down, he threw his arm around her and pulled her close, resulting in her resting her head on his shoulder as they both moved back on the couch, cuddling for the rest of the evening on the couch.

Neither of them had ever been this happy in their lives before.

When they had retreated towards the bedroom, they continued cuddling for an hour more, including some kissing in between, before finally settling down and falling asleep with Sheldon spooning Amy.

But as peaceful he had been all day, just as restless had his night been when he had woken up early the following morning.

The blanket wasn't on his side of the bed anymore, and the sheet that covered the mattress was soaking wet.

"Amy!" he shouted loudly, as he started to panic more and more.

Amy slowly woke up, but as soon as she saw the look on his face, she immediately was wide awake.

"Sheldon? What's wrong?" she asked, as she threw her arms around him, trying to calm him down.

"I…I don't know" Sheldon replied, shivering.

"I just woke up, and felt cold" he said, as he moved towards her side, getting away from the sheets which were soaking with his sweat.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Amy asked, concerned about him.

Sheldon was trying hard to see if he could remember anything, but only a vague feeling of panic came to him.

"I think I did, but I can't remember what it was about" Sheldon replied honestly, continuing pondering about it all.

"Let's get out of here, you need to get in a warm bath, you feel freezing cold" Amy said, as she guided him towards the bathroom.

When they entered the room, she quickly let go of him and turned on the bath, before undressing him and sitting him down in the tub, as he continued shivering.

The fear that was present in his eyes worried Amy even more than his shaking body. As the water level started to rise, and Sheldon took up a washcloth and was now beginning to cover himself with the steaming hot water, Amy kneeled down next to him.

"Sheldon, are you going to be all right for a few minutes?" she asked.

"I want to change the bed sheets while you try to warm up. I won't be far, if you need me, just yell" Amy said, seeing he nodded in agreement, she rose to her feet and left the bathroom.

After she had removed all sheets, blankets and pillows of the bed and dropped them in the laundry basket, she listened if she could hear any sounds coming from the bathroom.

When she stood there silently for a few seconds, she could hear Sheldon had turned off the stream and was still splashing the hot water over him, she continued on with putting on a fresh set of bed linen.

When Amy returned back to the bathroom with cloths for Sheldon to wear, she noticed he was already drying himself off with one of the large towels, which enveloped his upper body completely.

"Here you go" she said as she handed him the cloths one at a time, as he slowly put them on.

"How do you feel now?" Amy asked searching his face for any signs to tell her.

"A bit better, but I still don't know what happened. It scares me Amy" he replied as he finally pulled the shirt over his head.

"I know how you feel Sheldon, as you know I've had night terrors for a long time" Amy said, trying to sympathize with him.

"Did you ever learn where they came from?" Sheldon asked in his turn, knowing she hadn't had one for a long time.

"No, but I do know they stopped when we started dating seriously" she said, smiling, thinking back to that part of her life.

"So, do you still want to meet up with our friends this afternoon? We can cancel it if you want, I'm sure they will understand" Amy continued, taking his hand as they walked towards the living room.

"No, I think it will do me good to get out and have some fun with the guys, it's been a while since we all spent some time together, and it will be good for you to see Penny and Bernadette as well" Sheldon said.

* * *

When they arrived at Sheldon's former apartment, they were greeted by all of their friends who had already arrived.

"So, how it's going? Do you like living together?" Leonard asked them as they walked in.

"It's going great" Sheldon quickly replied, unsure if Amy would tell them about what happened this morning.

"It's only been one full day, but so far I have enjoyed every moment of it" he continued, glancing down at Amy.

"Yeah, it's been wonderful" Amy said, as she threw one arm around Sheldon's back.

"Good to hear" Penny said, as she moved forward, until she stood near Amy.

"You guys better get going. We girls need to catch up" Penny said, throwing a playful wink at Sheldon.

"All right…" Sheldon said, whose insecurity wasn't lost on Amy.

"Don't worry Sheldon, remember what we agreed upon about keeping things between us" she said, now standing in front of her boyfriend.

"Yes, thank you Amy" he replied, as his face started to show signs of relief again.

With that the guys left the apartment, and headed to the paintball track, they took Leonard's car to drive them there, while the girls settled down in the living room of apartment 4a.

* * *

"Sheldon, cover us!" Leonard shouted to the spot where Sheldon was located, but no response came.

"Sheldon!" now Raj and Howard chimed in too.

When they still got no response, Leonard told Raj and Howard to continue on, as he headed back to where he found Sheldon sitting down, leaned against a tree.

"Sheldon, what's going on? We're getting killed out here" Leonard said, leaning down towards his friend.

"It's nothing…I don't want to talk about it" Sheldon said, looking down at his feet.

"I think you should Sheldon, something's clearly bothering you" Leonard said, as he sat down next to him.

"Are you having second thoughts about living with Amy?" he asked.

"No, I really do like living with her. It's the best decision I've ever made" Sheldon replied, as he kept toying with the paintball gun, still clutched in his hands.

"Than what is it Sheldon? Did something happen between you and Amy?" his best friend said, which resulted in Sheldon quickly looking up at Leonard's face, as if his biggest secret had been revealed for all the world to know.

"I…I…I had a bad night, that's all. Just some bad dreams that scared me" Sheldon said, showing the same fear as earlier today on his face, which Leonard had seen before, but never to this extend.

"Do you know what about, it usually helps to talk about it" Leonard now replied, looking worried at him.

"I didn't remember what they were about earlier this morning, when Amy asked me about them" Sheldon said.

"But when we were driving over to your apartment, it all came back to me, and I've not been able to stop thinking about it" he admitted, wiping a tear from his eye before it started to fall down.

"Then why didn't you tell Amy, I'm sure she wants to know so she can help you through it, whatever it is about?" Leonard asked, confused why Sheldon was sharing this with him and not with his girlfriend.

"Because … it involves her, and I don't want to worry her anymore then she already is Leonard."

"But can we not talk about it here, I think I also need Penny for this as well" Sheldon said, as he slowly stood up, Leonard following his actions.

"Sure…" Leonard said confused, unsure why he wanted Penny there too.

Sheldon remained where he was, as Leonard informed Raj and Howard that they were quitting, but not sharing with them why in much details.

When they reached Leonard's apartment, they were all greeted by the girls, who were busy chatting and having a good time as it seemed.

"Ready to go Sheldon, I bet you're looking forward to a shower, considering you've been active all afternoon?" Amy asked, as she threw a sideways glance at him.

"Actually, I would like to stay and talk to Penny and Leonard in private, if you don't mind" Sheldon replied.

"I just need their advice on something, I will tell you later when I get home" he continued noticing the concerned look on Amy's face.

"All right, I hope you will tell what this is all about tonight" Amy said, knowing full well what he wanted to talk to them about.

When all of his friends had left besides Penny and Leonard, Sheldon sat down on his old spot, and broke down in tears.

Between the sobs his two friends were shocked to hear what his nightmares had been about, and rushed to his side, with Leonard sitting on the couch cushion next to him and Penny on the arm of the couch.

* * *

**As some of you already know I like writing dark chapters every now and then, so the next few chapters might have a dark edge on them. Don't worry, Sheldon and Amy won't break up again, but things might get a bit rough though.  
**


	28. Chapter 28

_When all of his friends had left besides Penny and Leonard, Sheldon sat down on his old spot, and broke down in tears._

_Between the sobs his two friends were shocked to hear what his nightmares had been about, and rushed to his side, with Leonard sitting on the couch cushion next to him and Penny on the arm of the couch._

* * *

As soon as Amy had left the building, and walked towards her car, she was pondering if her last comment was the right thing she could have said to Sheldon.

When she had spoken those words, there had been a small hint of frustration in them. Maybe not as much as she had expected, but still that feeling had been there.

When Sheldon had said that he wanted to talk to Leonard and Penny in private, she had to admit to herself that maybe Sheldon would never turn to her first when something was bothering him.

Even though they now had an actual physical relationship, she couldn't help feel left behind, simply because she hadn't known Sheldon as long as his other two friends.

But he also had said he would tell her when he would be back home later. This was a big change for Sheldon, if you looked back how he previously had handled things like this.

After arriving home, she tried to find things to distract her, but none were very successful. From putting the laundry that was now done washing into the dryer, or reading her favorite book, her mind kept milling over what happened this morning.

What could have frightened Sheldon so much he almost went into a state of shock? Was it still over what happened with his mother, and the aftermath between them?

Mary had been fine after all, Missy had told them exactly that last week, because they had been back to the hospital for several check-ups and Mary had recovered completely.

She had no idea what had caused Sheldon to be so scared, and she couldn't help but worry about him.

All she could do now was wait…

* * *

"Sheldon, that's horrible" Penny said, now cradling him into her arms as she sat next to him.

"No wonder you feel like the way you do" was all she could say, trying to sympathize with him.

"Have you ever had dreams like this before?" Leonard asked, as he sat on the other side of him.

"No…I've never had any bad nightmares similar to this" he admitted.

"I had troubles sleeping after Pop-Pop died, but that never caused me to wake up shivering, with the bed sheets soaking in sweat" Sheldon continued.

"I'm so glad that Amy was there, she remained extremely calm through it all. I don't even want to think what could have happened if she hadn't been there…" he said, shivering at the thought.

"But I still don't understand why you would think about something like that, even if it was just your subconscious making you think something like that could happen?" Penny asked, taking hold of his hands.

"I mean, I know you and Amy have spent exploring the boundaries of intimacy over the last few weeks, but you still haven't actually slept together" she continued.

"You…you know about that?" Sheldon asked, looking at his blond friend, as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

"Well, after you two decided to move in, Amy told me everything. And today she couldn't stop talking how excited she felt about living with you. But don't blame her for that, she was just so excited about it all, she couldn't keep it in Sheldon" Penny confessed, waiting to see how he would respond to this.

"I don't blame her, you two are my best friends, so I don't mind she told you about it" Sheldon responded to the surprise of both Leonard and Penny.

"That's good to hear Sheldon, it's good to talk about these things. It must be overwhelming for you as well" Leonard said, as he had sat watching the interaction between him and Penny.

"It was, but it was nothing compared to what happened yesterday morning" Sheldon said, as a brief smile broke through.

"What do you mean? What happened yesterday?" Penny asked.

"Why do you ask? Didn't Amy tell you?" he asked, confused about what was happening.

"I thought you said Amy told you about what happened over the last few weeks?" Sheldon asked again.

"Amy only told me that you two have been sleeping in the same bed all of this week, even before you officially moved in with her, and that you had shared another shower here during which things heated up between you two" Penny stated.

"What are you referring to Sheldon?" she had to ask.

"Well...when we woke up yesterday morning, we cuddled and kissed, which eventually resulted in …other things" Sheldon said cryptic.

"You mean you two finally had sex?" Penny asked bluntly, not hiding her excitement, as she clapped her hands together repeatedly.

"Obviously" Sheldon replied, remarkably calmer now.

This took some time to sink in with both Leonard and Penny, not just because that it finally happened between their best friends, but how Sheldon wasn't freaking out about, admitting it so calm to them.

"Sheldon, that's great. I'm so happy for you two" Penny said, as she threw her arms around his neck, pulling him towards her forcefully.

But shortly after his words had sank in, Penny started wondering about its implications.

"Sheldon, do you think that this step you and Amy took might have something to do with your nightmares?" she asked.

"You have to admit, they are, in a way connected to each other" she continued.

"Hmm, you could be right about it Penny" he said.

"What do you think I should do now?" he asked her.

"Sheldon, Honey, you need to talk to Amy about this. You can't shut her out on this, it involves her just as much as it does you, especially now you are living with her" Penny replied.

"I want to Penny, but what if she thinks I'm weak, because of all this?" Sheldon asked, nervously rubbing his hands together.

"Sheldon, Amy won't think that, she will react completely the opposite way. She will understand that you freaked out about this. Anyone would" Penny said.

"So go talk to her, Leonard you better drive him there now" she stated, not asking.

"All right" was all both Sheldon and Leonard had a chance to say, before they left the apartment.

* * *

After thanking Leonard, and asking him to thank Penny too on his behalf, he got out of the car and walked up to towards apartment 314.

When he opened the door, he noticed Amy had fallen asleep on the couch, an almost empty wine glass standing on the table.

He stood there only for a minute, admiring the view of the woman that caused him so much pleasure, but also had been the subject of his nightmares last night.

"Amy" he said, as he carefully touched her shoulder, seeing she was clutching on to one of the pillows which was always present on the couch.

Slowly his girlfriend started to wake up, seeing his bright blue eyes shining like a beacon in the night at her, reflecting the light coming from the lamps she had turned on earlier this evening.

"Sheldon?" Amy asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, as she sat up.

"What time is it?"

"Just past 8, I'm sorry I didn't come home earlier" Sheldon responded, sitting next to her.

"That's ok, did you have a good talk with Leonard and Penny?" she asked, waking up more and more as she sat there, looking at him.

"Yes I did, can I get you something to drink Amy? Some tea perhaps?"

"That sounds great, chamomile please" Amy replied.

When Sheldon returned, placing the yellow and blue mugs with tea on the table, he sat down next to her once more.

"What have you done tonight?" Sheldon asked trying to delay the conversation he needed to have with her.

"Not much, I tried reading" she said, pointing to the copy of Pride and Prejudice lying on the table. "But I was too worried about you, so I just closed my eyes for a second, I must have drifted off shortly after that" Amy said, before taking a sip of the tea.

"So what did you talk about with Penny and Leonard?" she asked, as she saw Sheldon starting to tense up after she had finished her question.

"Well, they are excellent listeners" he stated, avoiding her eyes.

"But in the end Penny suggested I should just tell you about what the nightmares were about"

"What? I thought you said you didn't remember what they were about?" Amy asked.

"You lied to me?" she asked angrily.

"No…no" Sheldon quickly said.

"When I woke up and told you about it, I really didn't know what they were about, you have to believe me Amy" he said, looking worried at her, hoping this wouldn't push her away.

"Only when we were driving towards Leonard's, it started to come back to me. I just didn't know how to tell you about it, because they were about…" Sheldon continued, feeling a few tears escaping his eyes.

"About what Sheldon? Why can't you tell me?" she asked, wiping a single tear from her own face.

"Because they were about you Amy!" he shouted, frustrated about feeling this way again.

This hit Amy hard, she had tried to think all evening about what could have been the reason of his disturbing state this morning.

But it had never occurred to her that she was the reason, or at least played a part in it.

After sitting silently, and taking another sip of the beverage before her, she recovered slightly, finding her voice again.

"Me? I was part of your nightmares?" she asked.

"Tell me Sheldon about them, and tell me right now!"

"I don't know how to say it Amy, I know what happened in them, but I still don't understand why I had them" Sheldon replied, as he started shaking softly again, just like he had done this morning.

"Penny thinks it might because of what we did yesterday" he continued, now too forcing himself to drink some of the tea.

"And after thinking about it, it actually makes some sense" he admitted to himself.

"What are you trying to tell me Sheldon?" Amy asked.

"I thought you liked what we did, we actually did it twice that morning?" she wanted to know, confused about his behavior.

"I did Amy, I enjoyed it beyond words. It's just my mind can't stop thinking about the consequences for the future" Sheldon said, now finally meeting her eyes.

"Remember when I asked you about using protection before our first time? You did comfort me, telling you already had thought about it. But I guess it never really left my mind."

"When I was asleep last night, I dreamed about how my future with you would be like, and eventually it came to you being pregnant" he continued.

"Why would that freak you out Sheldon? You know we can control that, and even if it were to happen, wouldn't that be amazing?" she asked, smiling a little as she thought about it herself.

"That wasn't what freaked me out Amy, and one day I would love for us to have children. It was what happened next that scared me" Sheldon replied.

"What happened Sheldon?" Amy asked, seeing he had turned himself even more to her.

"You…you died during childbirth" he said, tears streaming down his face, before throwing himself into her arms.


	29. Chapter 29

"_You…you died during childbirth"_

* * *

Amy had always thought there might be a possible fall back in Sheldon after the first time they really slept together. She thought he might pull away from her afterwards, scared of what it meant to him, to her and to them.

Or that he actually enjoyed it so much, he couldn't get enough of it all.

But this? This was something she couldn't have imagined.

It did explain why Sheldon had been tossing and turning last night, and everything that followed after that.

"Sheldon…" Amy said softly, sliding over so she was sitting right next to him, no space between them.

"Why didn't you tell me this right away? You should have told me as soon as you remembered this" she said, not angry but actually in a soothing tone.

"I wanted to tell you Amy, but I didn't want to scare you even more then I already had done" Sheldon said, looking her into the eyes.

"Sheldon, I love that even in a time like that you think of me first, but we are in this together" she said, as she pulled him even closer to her.

"I was already worried about you, and have been all day. Even when you seemed to have recovered after the bath this morning, I still didn't feel right to leave you" Amy said.

"But it's good that you told me now, we can talk about it" she continued, slowly caressing his back.

"I don't want to Amy, every time I talk about it, I see that image again before my eyes" Sheldon replied, as Amy noticed he was close to crying.

"It's all right Sheldon, we don't have to talk about it. Just know that if at some point you do want to talk about it, you come to me ok?" Amy asked, unsure if this was the best approach.

She knew it would be better if Sheldon actually talked about it. After all these years, she knew how the human mind usually worked, even one as remarkable as her boyfriend's.

Discussing troubling situations made the mind having to deal with it, even when it's a disturbing scene like this.

But Sheldon has never been good at having to deal with things like this. She had been told about how he had locked himself away in his room when his parents' marriage imploded, not wanting to come out or even talk to anyone.

Or when Penny and Leonard were fighting often a few years ago, he actually ran away to the Comic book store, hiding away in the dark corners of his mind.

After this, Sheldon and Amy just sat together on the couch, with Amy still sitting close to him.

When a half hour had passed, it was still relatively early, Sheldon said he would take a quick shower and turn in, as he wanted to catch a few extra hours of sleep, before having to go to work tomorrow.

As Amy wasn't tired yet, and now feeling a little bit calmer about it all, she wanted to work on the preparation of her new project some more, which she would start setting up tomorrow.

The animals for her study wouldn't be arriving for a few more weeks, which was fortunate because she hadn't been working on this new study as much as she had planned for, Sheldon moving in had caused her mind to drift off to wonderful daydreams as soon as he had accepted her invitation.

After spending two hours on this, she decided it was time to follow Sheldon's example, and had a long shower before slipping into her nightgown and crawling in bed with him, quietly, seeing Sheldon was sleeping soundly on his side of the bed.

* * *

When Amy awoke the following morning, she noticed Sheldon's side of the bed was empty. The covers had surrounded her, just like it had before Sheldon started sharing this very bed with her. After she sat up and yawned, stretching her arms out wide, she forced herself out of the comfort of her bed and put on her bathrobe and walked out of the room.

As she entered the living room, expecting Sheldon already up and about, maybe even preparing a lovely breakfast, she actually saw something completely else.

Sheldon was curled up on the couch, his head resting on the pillow she had used last night too before Sheldon had gotten home, and clutching onto the spare blanket they always kept in the bedroom closet.

Why was he sleeping here, and not by her side, as he should have been? Should she wake him up to ask him, or let him rest for now?

After a short moment, she knew he probably needed some more rest, so she decided to head back and change into the cloths she had already selected for today.

Half an hour later, as he was fully dressed and made up, she returned and saw her boyfriend still sleeping peacefully.

Looking at the clock, she knew they hadn't much time before they had to leave to the University, so she started making breakfast for two.

As she had set two plates on the table, she woke Sheldon up gently, pulling back the blanket and giving him a soft kiss on his lips, which caused him to open his eyes and pulling away quickly from her.

"Amy!" Sheldon shouted, as he jumped up from the couch.

Amy noticed he was already wearing a t-shirt, and his pants were lying on the floor in front of him, which he now started putting on.

"What…what are you doing?" he asked, a startled look present on his face.

"Sorry Sheldon, I didn't mean to scare you. I thought it would be a nice way of waking you up" Amy said, as she took a step towards him, only seeing Sheldon taking a step back, keeping the distance between them intact.

"Sheldon? What's going on?" Amy asked, confused about his behavior.

"Why did you sleep on the couch? You seemed to be sleeping well last night when I got in" she continued.

"Yeah, as soon as I hit the pillow I was gone" he said, looking at her, not moving closer to Amy, who stood frozen to the ground.

"But somehow I awoke in the middle of the night, as I had that dream again" he said.

"When I looked over to where you were sleeping, I noticed you had moved your arm over me, as you were sleeping face down" Sheldon continued, fiddling with the shirt he was wearing.

"I…I think that caused me to have that dream again" he said eventually, so soft she barely heard him.

"You think what?!" she asked, knowing full well what he said.

"You think me simply touching you, in my sleep no less, caused you to dream that again?" Amy replied, hearing irritation seeping into her voice.

"Do you think I like dreaming like that Amy?" Sheldon asked.

"I don't blame you for anything Amy, I'm just trying to share my thoughts about this with you" he said, frustrated with how this conversation was turning out.

"I know that Sheldon, and I appreciate that. It's just hard to hear that my fears are coming true" Amy said.

"Your fears? What fears are you talking about?" Sheldon asked, unsure about what she meant by that.

"I always feared that when we finally got really intimate with each other, you would freak out about it. I hate being right this time" Amy confided to him.

"Well, nice to hear you have so much faith in me!" Sheldon shouted, as he grabbed his coat and stormed out of the apartment.

* * *

As soon as he had gotten on the bus to take him to the University, he regretted his outburst minutes ago.

Quickly he reached inside his pocket to find his phone and started typing.

"Amy, I'm sorry for what I said just now. That wasn't fair to you, I know you trust and believe in me. I hope you will meet me for lunch today after all."

Not long after he had hit the send button, he got a reply from her.

"I'm sorry too, I should have spoken about my fears earlier, and we might have prevented this whole situation. I will see you at lunch."

This lifted a heavy burden of Sheldon's shoulders and mind, as he hated to not be on good terms with Amy after their last fight, which had resulted in their temporary break up.

After arriving at his office, he happily spent working on his current project, and surprisingly time flew by.

When the clock starting moving towards the afternoon, he heard the familiar knock of Leonard on the door, which he knew by heart after all these years.

As they walked towards the cafeteria, Sheldon told his best friend about all that had happened after Leonard had dropped him off last night.

"Well, I don't really know what to think Sheldon" he said, as they continued walking down the corridors.

"But I'm glad you two made up, it's not good to leave these things hanging."

"I agree, I was so angry at myself when I left the apartment this morning, it's just frustrating to think that Amy might be right about it, that I wasn't ready for this yet" Sheldon replied, almost mumbling to himself.

"But it's too late now, there is no turning back, is there?" he asked.

"No, I don't think there is. But talking about it helps, with me, with Penny, but especially with Amy" Leonard said, as they reached the lunch room.

As they walked inside, they noticed Amy already sitting at their usual table, waiting for them to arrive. When she saw Sheldon approaching, she couldn't help but to give him a smile, that said all that needed to be said between them for now.

As he answered it with a nod, lost on everyone else but her, they knew they were fine, for now that is.

They still would need to talk about the consequences of the dreams, but Amy already thought of that too.

"Leonard" Amy spoke right after they had seated themselves, Sheldon opposite of her and Leonard right next to him.

"Would you mind driving Sheldon home today?" she asked.

"Sure Amy…" Leonard said, hesitating as he thought about the meaning of this request.

"Why can't we drive home together Amy?" Sheldon asked, confused.

"Did I do something wrong again?"

"No Sheldon, you didn't" Amy replied quickly.

"I just have a surprise planned for you, and I need to make some final arrangements, that's why I'm leaving early" she continued.

"What is it?" Sheldon asked, uncomfortable about what she had said just now.

"Sheldon, you know the concept of a surprise, so I'm not going to tell you" Amy simply stated, taking a bite of her salad.

"Amy, you know I hate surprises almost as much as I hate the Green Lantern movie" Sheldon said, almost fussing like a little child denied a 2nd piece of candy by his mother.

This made Leonard laugh, earning him a stern look from his former roommate.

"I know Sheldon, but you have to trust me on this. Can you do that?" Amy asked, now fully focused on the man sitting right across from her.

"I do trust you Amy, I just don't like secret keeping" he responded.

"Don't worry about it, I think you like this one" Amy said, giving him a coy smile.

* * *

As soon as both Leonard and Sheldon had finished their work for the day, Sheldon was driven to his apartment in Glendale, and after thanking Leonard for the ride, he wished him a good evening.

When he walked in, he noticed Amy had already started dinner, and greeted him from the kitchen.

After he had put away his coat, and placed his messenger bag near his desk, he walked over to the table.

Something was off, and quickly he realized Amy had set it not for two, but for three people.

"Amy, are we having someone over? Is that the surprise?" he asked, staring at his girlfriend, who didn't turn around as she heard his question.

"Yes" was the short reply.

"Who? Amy, is it Penny coming over?" Sheldon asked.

"Just wait, you'll know soon enough" Amy said, now turned around and smiling at him.

And just when Sheldon was preparing to fire another question at her, there was a knock on the door.

When Sheldon reached the door, and carefully opened it, only one response came to mind.

"What…what are you doing here?"

* * *

**Thanks everyone for the feedback, please, keep it coming.**


	30. Chapter 30

What is she doing here? That question had entered his mind at that very moment, and immediately left over his lips again, flying towards the woman standing in front of him.

"Mom?" Sheldon asked.

"Why…why are you here? You're not supposed to be travelling, you're still recovering" he continued asking, ignoring the fact that he actually was happy to see her.

"Hi there Sheldon, aren't you going to invite me in?" Mary Cooper asked, not waiting for him to reply and moving past him into the apartment.

Confused as he was, he remembered to close the door as he turned around, noticing Amy was standing there, observing the scene.

She had done this, it must have been her. That's why she left the University early today, to prepare for his mother's arrival.

But how had she managed to do this all on such short notice? She must have called his mother right after he left the apartment this morning, otherwise she wouldn't have had enough time to make it here now.

Sheldon was actually impressed by both of the women standing in his apartment, especially Amy.

While his mother had always been there for him growing up, these last few years he started to notice she wouldn't come to his aid anymore as soon as he asked, unlike what she had done before.

But somehow Amy had managed to get her to come here, she really knows how to handle not just him, but all of the Cooper's it seemed.

"Amy? Care to explain what my mom is doing here?" Sheldon asked, as he moved towards the kitchen, where Amy was adding the final touch to the dinner.

"It's not that complicated Sheldon" she said, as she carried the food over towards the table, setting it down.

"We need to address these nightmares you've been having, and I was at a loss on how to handle this, considering what happened between us last night, and again this morning" Amy continued, referring to Sheldon sleeping on the couch and running angrily from the apartment after Amy had told him about her fears.

"So, after you had left this morning, I called her and told her everything that has happened between us" she said, a blush appearing on both of her cheeks, which Sheldon knew full well what that meant.

"I wanted to ask her for advice on how to proceed, since she has seen you upset more than anyone else, I assumed" Amy said.

"You...you told her? Everything?" Sheldon asked in a whispering tone, as he walked towards Amy, stopping right in front of her.

"I had too Sheldon, how else was I going to get her advice on this if she didn't know about us sleeping together?" Amy asked, throwing a helpless look over his shoulder to Mary.

"Sheldon, Amy did the right thing in telling me, even about the fact that you two have engaged in physical intimacy" his mother said, seeing him turning around as she spoke this words.

"While I'm not really happy you haven't respected my wishes on the matter, I am glad Amy told me about it, since that wasn't easy for her. It should have been you that told me, but we'll save that for another time" Mary continued, as Amy nodded in agreement, now standing next to Sheldon, taking hold of his hand.

"But tell me Sheldon, why do you think you are having these dreams?" she now asked, looking at her youngest son.

"Are you having doubts about the steps you two have made in the relationship these last few weeks?" Mary asked, knowing Amy wanted to know the answer as well.

"No, I don't regret any of it" he replied, unsure who to look at now.

"I was surprised when Amy asked me to move in with her, I'll admit that. But as always, Amy explained herself perfectly, and I happily agreed to her proposal" Sheldon continued.

As often Sheldon had complemented her when it was just the two of them, whenever he spoke of her in this manor in front of others, it always made her blush. This was no exception.

"And as much as I feared of not living with Leonard anymore, all that has been proven pointless since I love living with Amy. Even when I started having those nightmares, I loved the fact that she was there for me, in a way that no one else could ever have been there for me" Sheldon said.

"No offense mom" he quickly added, realizing she might feel hurt by this confession.

"No need to apologize for that Shelly, I've known from the moment I met Amy all those years ago, you two belonged together" she replied.

"I just had to use reverse psychology to make you see it as well" Mary continued.

"Yeah, well it took me some time to notice it, but I do now" Sheldon said, seeing Amy nodding with a smile on her face from the corner of his eyes.

"And the same goes for when we had intercourse two days ago" Sheldon said, looking at Amy.

"I've always told myself that I didn't need that, and when Amy and I started dating I never wanted to admit to myself that …having sex was going to be a part of our relationship."

"But I was wrong about it, I do see that now" he continued as he gave Amy's hand a little squeeze.

"I wanted it, and needed it. Just like you did Amy."

"It's good that you are starting to realize that Sheldon, but maybe it happened to soon? This was a huge step for both of us. Maybe we should have talked about it before" Amy now chimed in.

"Maybe…" Sheldon said, before his mother interrupted him.

"That is a good thing Sheldon, but there is nothing you can do about that now" Mary said.

"But you still haven't answered my original question. Why did you think you see that horrible scenario in your sleep? You must have some thoughts about it?" she asked again, trying to confront Sheldon with the reason she was here now.

"I don't know mom, I really don't" Sheldon answered honestly.

"It's hard for me to think about it, as that scene keeps repeating in my head. But as hard it is for me to admit it, I still think that somehow that innocent moment of you placing your arm over me, being in physical close you, stirred up my fears again" he said.

"Fears? What fears are you talking about Sheldon?" Amy and Mary asked together.

"The fear of losing you, pushing you away, not showing you enough affection. I know we talk about these things Amy, especially after what happened before between us" he said.

"But sometimes those doubts keep entering my mind, and they are always telling me that I'm not doing enough, that someday you will leave me. Or that something will go wrong, and I was unable to prevent it. One way or another, it always results in me being alone again" Sheldon continued.

"Sheldon, let me tell you something that I've never told anyone before, only me and your father knew about it" Mary said.

"The time I got pregnant with your brother George, wasn't the first time" she said, as she said down on one of the chairs.

"It was shortly after your father and I got married, and we were both very excited about it, as you can imagine" Mary continued, seeing she had captured both of Sheldon and Amy's attention completely.

"But after three months, the most terrible thing happened, I lost the baby."

"After that happened, both your father and I were extremely sad, because we lost something that was truly ours, and nothing anyone could say or do could make it all right" Mary said.

"But we got through it, together. We didn't need anyone else, but even if we did, we had our friends there."

"Same goes for you two" she continued.

"If God forbid something bad like that would happen, or something would happen to either of you, you would never be alone. You have your each other, or your friends and family to help you get through it."

"So no matter what, you'll never be alone Sheldon"

After that, a long silence fell over the room. Neither Sheldon nor Amy knew how to respond to that.

It felt as if someone had sucked all the warmth out of the room, leaving nothing but the bitter cold of reality behind.

"Mom…" Sheldon said softly, as he pulled up a chair next to her and sat down.

"How...how did you get over something like that? I only dreamed about something similar bad, and I can't seem to get it out of my mind?" Sheldon asked.

"Somehow you moved on with your life, and still had three more children, how did you do that?"

"It took a long time Sheldon, talking about it with your father helped, because he was feeling exactly the same as I was back then" Mary answered.

"But I think that your situation, although being similar in a way, also differs slightly from ours" she continued.

"As you said yourself, your fear comes from you losing Amy, to put it bluntly, you not being committed enough."

"Whether that's true or not, I can't say. But I talked something over with Amy, which I might think that can help you" she said, smiling and giving Amy a little nod.

"Sheldon as your mother just said, I know you feel something might happen between us one day that will result in you being alone, and that you feel you don't show your affection for me enough" Amy spoke, as she slowly moved to a drawer in the kitchen, and took something out. Sheldon couldn't see what it was as of yet, as she was keeping it hidden behind her back when she walked back over to where he was standing.

'And while I don't agree with that assessment, because you show me all the time how you feel about me, the man that I met so many years ago, the man I fell in love with and loves me back just as much" Amy said.

"I do understand where you are coming from, especially after talking with your mother a lot this morning" she continued.

"You need confirmation in your life, a token of commitment so to speak."

"That's why I have one question for you" Amy said, holding out the item she had taken just before.

"Sheldon Lee Cooper, will you marry me?"

* * *

**I thought about ending the story here, because I don't want it to turn out in a "classic" story fairytale where everyone lives happily ever after with the perfect house and the perfect kids etc. **

**But I don't want to leave it hanging here, and I still got some nice plots up my sleeve I think. So the story will continue, with ups and downs for all characters.  
**


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